Sons From Somewhere
by nani'anela
Summary: Sequel to "The Wolf and the 'Walker". Dean's convinced the children he dreamt about are real, and Sam helps admit him to a mental hospital. When the Leo and Robbie's universe has gone to hell, they figure out a way into Dean's world. How will Cas adjust to being a father to kids he didn't know he had? Family hunts, awkward teen relationship advice, and lots of bonding ensue.
1. What's Wrong With Me?

Hello there!

So, understandably, most people didn't quite like the ending of the first part of this series with Dean waking up from around 20 years in living in a very bizarre world. So I'm attempting a sequel just for fun :)

Maybe I'll delete, who knows? Just something to do because I can't get these characters out of my head. And I felt bad.

**Synopsis of the 1st story below, for people who want to read this but haven't read the Wolf and the 'Walker: Feel free to ignore if you'd like to read it later or have already read it :)**

And I'm trying to summarize literally 180k+ worth of _stuff_ here, so please bear with me :P

Main idea of the plot: Heaven had turned to drastic, even hellish, measures in order to protect their angel tablet. This included 2 programs to try and create even stronger angels.

The first was taking angel fledglings (grown inside an angel as pieces of grace, no outward appearance of the body) and mutating them with as many monster features as they would uptake to create a kind of angel supersolider, called Gemlings ("little gems") because they would be the "crown jewels" of heaven. The angel in charge of this operation simply went by the Jeweler. An extensive right-from-birth training system was established in heaven for these special angels, complete with numbers for names and specified training for each ability.

The second was taking extremely capable humans, killing them, and then converting their souls in heaven into new angels to try and make more powerful warriors, killing off the weaker angels to supply the grace. Both Sam and Dean were chosen for this. Cas tried to save them, but because he was under Naomi's control he was unable to help. They were sent to heaven and began being converted into angels.

Cas found them and tried to rescue them from their imprisonment, but found he couldn't after they'd advanced too far into being angels and sigils held them in place. The upside to this was he could now establish an angelic bond with them, so they could silently communicate, among other things. Sam's bond to Castiel goes according to plan, and Sam becomes Cas's angel brother. However, while bonding with Dean, he accidently establishes a bond-mate type, and with this Cas falls pregnant. Before he can tell Dean the news, he's commanded away by Naomi and he must change his children forever in order to serve heaven.

The Jeweler injects him with mutagens for phoenix, werewolf and skinwalker before one of Cas's brothers, a Guardian angel named Soloviel, can rescue him. Soloviel is revealed to be the Winchester's guardian angel, who possessed the Impala for a number of years. Cas is very sick, and doesn't reveal to everyone what had happened to him until he's carried the babies for six months. At first, Dean is hurt and afraid that these monsters will be dangerous, but finally decides to keep them. They name the twins Leoniel Samuel and Robert John.

Soloviel goes on to interrogate and tortue Naomi about how to purify the fledglings, but it's revealed they can't be cured. With Cas up in heaven trying to conserve energy, Sam and Dean continue to go on Hunts, this time aided by their newfound angelic skills. Dean is almost killed several times, but two mysterious children who try to hide their faces and identities always seem to save him.

Dean and Sam are on a vampire hunt when he sees the kids again, and finally corners them and demands they reveal who they are, and why they've been following him. He'd accidently shot Robbie in the leg (thinking he was a vampire), and as a werewolf triggered by pain and panic, Robbie goes into attack mode, aka "IV" or "InVoluntary." Leo flies him away to protect his dad and Uncle, only to get mauled himself. As the only person to be able to bring his brother back after going IV, he is able to survive only with some bites on his arms.

They find the boys one more time at a diner and force them to come with them. Dean puts a knife to Robbie's throat and almost triggers him again before Leo reveals that they are his sons. They ask why they're back in time in the first place. The twins reveal they are 17 and came back because Leo had been kidnapped into the Gemling Training program for a few hellish months before they finally were able to save him. They didn't feel completely safe in the future; and secretly, they also came back to find out what Dean had hid from them, that they were the ones who almost killed Cas. The two of them pretend to go back to the future, but really they fastforward to their birth in order to save Cas.

Dean and Cas finally fall in complete love, but it's too late, as Cas believes he is dying. Cas gives birth in an abandoned church as Sam and Soloviel try to help. Robbie is born first, and then Cas gives up. Leo must be cut out of him, and his wings burn away. Sol takes him to heaven to try and save him, and finds the teen boys there, who give up a lot of energy to save Cas.

On Earth, Dean begins to raise the peculiar babies, who turn into animals and sleep in fires. Sol tells him Cas is alive but barely. His grace was burnt down to a size that could fit in his hands, and that Cas will have to rebuild himself, the proportion like if a human had to rebuild their body using a single blood cell. Dean finds out the hard way that each full moon Robbie gets very sick and must eat hearts in order to feel better.

When the kids are six years old, they finally find out who Cas is and they begin to fight about whether or not he is alive or if he even loves them. Leo finds Dean cutting hearts, and Dean tells him not to tell Robbie who he really is, but he accidently tells him he's a werewolf during a fight. Robbie's terrified of himself, and the two quickly make finally comes back the day before the twin's six birthday, and promises to stay.

The 17-year-olds finally make it home to the future, where we find out Soloviel was actually killed in the raid to bring Leo back from Training. Cas and Dean find out they are having another baby, and they finally cure Robbie of being a werewolf, but he is still an animagus for the animal form.

Heaven then tries to exterminate all the Gemlings, now that the tablet was destroyed and they realize they are too powerful to keep around, and the demons are trying to steal them to use as their own weapons. The twins fight a hoard of demons and angels trying to save Cas and their little sister. Dean finally kills the Jeweler for everything he'd done to his family.

Dean settles back into his life, when he wakes up and realizes the whole thing was a crazy dream of his own creation. It is revealed that Cas saw that Dean was hanging on by a thread from the exhaustion of being a Hunter and offered to give him an angel's dream. This sent Dean on an 18 year journey in 1 night, but things went bizarre in Dean's mind, like dreams often do. Cas didn't realize that so much would happen in a dream and apologizes to the distraught Dean, telling him that with an infinite amount of alternate universes, it's very possible that the universe he created exists in full among the billions of possibilties.

So, now, here we are. The sequel, and what happens post-dream to bring the family back together.

Well, on with the show! :)

* * *

Sam noticed Dean was changed since Castiel had given him the "gift" of an angel's night sleep, which Sam judged wasn't so much of a gift at all.

Sure, the skin on Dean's face glowed healthily and he seemed stronger with more energy, overall _physically_ healthier and less worn down, but Sam worried about his brother sometimes.

Dean would have his head in the clouds more and more often nowadays. Sam was driving when Dean had asked him to, it was a hot summer's day and Dean didn't say anything for hours, looking out the car window deep in thought.

Finally, Sam had the courge to speak up. Sam cleared his throat. "Hey, Dean?" He asked gently.

Dean sighed, his eyes slipping closed.

"...Today was their birthday, you know. Summer babies." Dean said to the rolled up window. "I can't help but wonder how they're doing."

Sam cleared his throat again. "Uh...who was that again?"

Dean shook his head and slumped down in the passenger's seat. "Never mind."

Sam locked his jaw. "Seriously, Dean? It's been almost a month and you haven't even talked to me about this once. Don't you trust me?" Sam huffed and narrowed his eyes. "And I swear to God, if Cas did this as a way to hurt you-" His fingers curled a little tighter around the steering wheel.

"Cas would never do that to hurt me." Dean spoke up over him, interrupting him. "And I haven't talked to you about it because..._fuck_, god-fucking-dammit, it's painful, okay?"

Dean crossed his arms and twisted his face away from Sam. He watched the dark trees whip past instead.

"Cas never should have done this to you." Sam said angrily, gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles were white. "He was being rash and he didn't think it through." Sam's teeth locked together.

Dean sighed and ran a hand down his face. "I miss my fucking sons, Sammy. I miss my family."'

Sam didn't know if maybe he should admit Dean into a mental institution, maybe just to talk it out and let it all go, so they could be back on hunts again. And he wanted to put some sense into his brother. This had all been a _dream_, goddammit! And Dean still couldn't quite grasp that.

"I know, Dean." Sam said back, trying to sound a little sympathetic. "Have you heard from good ol' Cas lately?" He tried to change the subject.

Dean shook his head. "AWOL." He said gruffly.

"Dean. If you want to talk about the dream you know I'm always here," Sam said, his voice dripping with concern. Dean simply grunted in response, dismissively.

"If the dream was too-" Sam started, but was quickly interrupted by Dean.

"_Stop calling it a dream_!" Dean snarled, his hands balling into fists as he then buried his face in his hands, silently. His breaths rattled from his throat as he struggled to control his breathing. "They can find me. They're smart enough that they can find me. They'll look for me."

Sam swallowed and felt anger rising in his chest. This was all that damned angel's fault. If only Cas could see the suffering he was causing Dean now. Sam locked his teeth together just thinking about it.

"Cas is making you suffer, can't you see that?" Sam shot at him. "You have to let this all go, Dean! You're acting like a crazy person!"

"I'm not _crazy_! My sons are _real_, Cas said they were real, they're coming for me, they're going to find me.." Dean gripped his hair tightly in his fingers. Finally, he let go, his fingers loosening and curling away from his hair, he covered his face in shame instead.

"Fuck. Sammy...Sammy...what's wrong with me?" Dean asked in a small voice, tears streaming down his face.

Sam put in the maps the location of the nearest mental hospital. Just so Dean could go somewhere to calm himself and try and at least semi-heal from this. He hoped at least he'd get the fact this the angel-dream wasn't real established, it would make Dean's life so much easier.

Sam found a job nearby and promised he'd always visit Dean and they'd hit the road once the hunt was over. Dean went willingly to be admitted, which was the strangest part to Sam. Maybe that meant he would actually try to get better himself. Sam just wanted the old Dean back.

Sam got the hunt over with quickly enough, taking just two days to interview, then salt and burn. He visited Dean everyday to bring him some lunch, and Sam tried to gage for himself how much longer Dean should stay and get help. Dean's eyes would light up as he dug into the junk food he'd brought and told Sam that things were okay here. But that didn't mean he didn't want to get out as soon as possible.

Sam still felt angry at Cas for messing his brother up that bad.

Sam checked into a nearby motel, and had dinner by the television. It had started to drizzle outside, white noise filling the air. Sam turned off the tv, went to his bed and bounced a tennis ball along the wall for a while until he got tired and decided to go to bed. He prayed for Dean to get better soon. He then prayed directly to Castiel to get his damn ass down here and fix Dean because of what he did to him.

Sam tried to sleep, but it was too early. It was now pouring outside, water dripping down the roof in lines and pattering like rice on the roof. God, he was bored. He hoped something exciting would happen, maybe.

He tried to drift off to sleep. Not five minutes later, the door to his motel slammed open, letting in a blast of rain and cold wind.

Sam bolted upright in bed and snatched up his gun, pointing in the dark. "Who the fuck is there?" He growled, stumbling for the lightswitch on his bedside lamp, never letting the silhouette out of his sight.

He met a pair of worried green eyes, on a dripping wet face with black hair plastered to his pale forehead. He was carrying another kid, who was probably his age, and his face was pale and shining wet with a splatter of freckles that stood out even more with his pale face, his eyelids squeezed tight. The standing kid's arm was tucked under the kid's limp knees and on his lower back.

His lower back because his upper back was sprouting something dark black and shining with water and draping down to the floor.

Sam cocked the gun and his breath came in spurts from his mouth. He tried to understand that look the teenager was giving him. "Tell me who you are right now or I swear to God I'll shoot." Sam growled.

The standing kid licked a little rainwater from his lips. "Hey. Sorry to be dramatic. 'It was a dark and stormy night,' eh Uncle Sammy?" He smiled just a little and shook some of his pitch black hair from his green eyes with a little shake of his head, shrugging a little to adjust the kid in his arms as he began slipping.

"Well, don't just stand there. Little help here?"


	2. The Boy and The Snake

Hello again! Thanks for reading, and for following Frozeninspace & jojospn :)

I'm hoping to make this story a lot less sad than the previous one and more fluffy and sweet. The last story was incredibly sad and I hope I make up for it with this one haha.

Side note- I might do a little POV switching up just to write easier. Well, on with the story!

* * *

_Robbie's POV_

I remember flames.

Now, look. Let's get one thing straight. Me and my brother have always loved fire. There's crappy quality videos of us two as babies with my uncle using hairspray as a flamethrower, as we looked happy as clams as the flame died out and we were giggling, unscathed. The fireplace was a perfect place to sleep if you were cold or upset.

That night, the fire was different. The flames felt different, poisonous, actually painful for once. I watched my house burn down, the home I'd spent the past ten or so years of my life in.

My dad was inside. So were my twin brother and my little sister Mary, but I saw their silhouettes soon after he'd gone inside to save her. I was outside waiting after my brother had dragged me there, as my skin blisted on my arms from when I'd tried to save my dad.

The flames looked like blobs as tears streamed from my eyes. I felt Cas's absence stretch deep and painful in my grace, just as horrible as when my Uncle had been killed close to three years ago. Dean had dissappeared without a trace almost three year ago, but he didn't leave a hole. In fact, his bond seemed to vanish that day too, as if I'd never made it.

"Robbie," Leo was crying out desparately, touching my face as he held three-year-old Mary close over his shoulder. "God dammit, we have to get out of here! Before they come here again!" He was choking on the smoke.

I don't remember much about that night. I mostly remember the next morning, waking up to find my brother had tended to and wrapped up my holy fire burns when I'd been passed out, and that I woke up in the back of the car with my little sister curled close to my chest, I had my head bowed and my chin resting on her head of light blonde curls as she fitted herself tightly to me, sleeping and trembling at the same time, hoping her big brother would bring her some comfort. But I was just as scared as her.

Leo was outside, leaning on the car and smoking a cigarette and taking swigs from a silver flask. He'd never smoked even once in his life, and barely drank either.

My right arm and part of my chest, almost half of the pectoral on my right side had been burned badly.

My hate for the Purifiers knew no bounds.

I didn't understand completely why. The angels who survived through Dark Years in heaven were changed forever. There was a handful of angels who believed that all traces of the Dark Years had to be removed forever, a stain on heaven that had to be scrubbed out. They thought they were purifying the world again. Things just snowballed from there.

Cas was a host for me and Leo, the main experiments from Heaven's Dark Years, and they'd wanted to kill all three of us that night and didn't care that Mary would get caught in the crossfire.

We were nineteen years old, my little sis only three, and both our parents were gone. We had a few hundred dollars stored away in the bank, and the Impala, and that was it. I figured that maybe the three of us could go and live with Uncle Sammy, but I also knew that I needed to do something else before I would just accept that this was my life now.

I held my baby sister close and opened the back car door. Leo didn't look up at me as he tipped the flask into his mouth and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. He threw the cigarette, an old one I recognized the brand as ones my Uncle used to smoke (he must have found it somewhere in the car), on the asphalt and ground it out with the hell of his shoe.

It was cold that morning, the air light and crisp and condensation was collected on the inside of our car windows. Mary was still sleeping, and I was careful not to wake her.

"Thanks." I spoke up, not recognizing my own voice as it graveled rawly in my throat. I remember screaming at the top of my lungs last night as my home was set ablaze. "For, uh, my arm." I finished.

Leo lowered his eyes, his light-colored lashes fanning onto his freckled cheeks as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I was thinkin' something last night, RJ." He said quietly to the ground, a bit of his honey-blond hair spilling onto his forehead as he tipped his head downward. "About where Dad went."

I sometimes still couldn't believe how similarly we thought sometimes. I adjusted my hold on Mary as she began to slip down and she hugged me around the neck, sleeping still as she let out a tiny whimper and I rubbed her back, she was still in her favorite pj shirt, a yellow tee with a gigantic daisy on the front.

"I've been thinking that too." I admitted. "Cas told us...when he vanished, they were getting ready for bed, and he just..disappeared. And Cas said he knew something strange had happened when their bond just completely disappeared too. Remember how sad he was when he didn't have an Other anymore?"

Leo nodded grimly, locking his jaw. "And all those fucking angels smelled it on him, that he was fertile and just brimming with the need for an Other since he'd severed the bond and that he'd have _experience_ and they just came by the dozen, didn't they?" He grimaced.

I remembered that all too well. Every day, angels coming to the door with their greedy eyes, men and women alike.

"Is your father home?" They'd all ask, grins on their faces. "It's not every day you get such an experienced angel with a severed tie. Twenty years, wow. It's like every angel's dream come true."

Cas hid away in his room, buried in his fluffy blankets, Leo and Robbie feeling like more of the parents as they made their own meals and tucked Cas into bed, their father tried to wait until the period of vulnerability passed. Of course he wouldn't bond to any of these angels and become a sort of sex slave. Castiel rarely cried, but he couldn't bring himself to get out of bed either. Something broke in him when Dean left.

I had to fight off many an intruder, so did Leo. My hands always had swollen knuckles those days. I never let them get _close_ to my dad.

It was almost like he wasn't afraid to die when the Purifiers had hit our home last night. And that hurt like hell. But I liked to think that he was back with Dean somewhere, that he's find him somewhere in the void that angels went when they died.

"I did research, you know." Leo said quietly, still staring at the ground. "Every single day since Dean disappeared. I think I know what happened, Robbie, I just was afraid to tell you."

"What, Lee?" I asked, shivering. It was chilly out here in the morning air.

"He got swept away to an alternate dimension. It has to be the only explanation." Leo said, kicking a bit of dust up with the toe of his carpenter's boot, a pair he'd found in the trunk that they usually wore when on hunts. "And I intend to find him."

"Then I'm coming with you." I interjected quickly. "I want to find Dad just as much as you do. And maybe...maybe Cas is there with him too. I don't want to be _here_ anymore." I voiced my true opinion and realized how true it was. I just wished I could escape, and go somewhere else. What if Dad was out there somewhere with a living Cas? A _happy_ Cas? If we found him again...my chest swelled a little bit. Our lives had gone to shit. And I couldn't help but hope now.

It was worth a shot. I was not the type to give up easily. "How do we find him?" I barked out, keeping my hand firmly on my little sister's back as I frowned a little.

"We need a part of him to track him through the dimensions and match him to the right one. But the bonds disappeared, remember?" Leo swallowed back tears.

"Leo. There's _us_." I spoke up. "He's a part in us. All three of us."

Leo dragged the back of his hand and across his eyes. "...Really think that could work?" His voice was wavering. His eyes were already swollen, he must have been crying this morning as I and Mary still slept.

"We have to try." I replied. "We _have_ to."

"RJ..._Dad's_..." Leo choked out, before burying his face in his hands. _Dead_.

I hugged what was left of my family tight for minutes on end.

This all got me thinking. What if my parents always wound up together, in every dimension? And if one was gone, then the other had to be too? It was clear they were soul mates. I wondered if they had different kids in those different dimensions and my head swam.

I wonder if there was a hierarchy to it. Like, shiny, beautiful, djnn-like worlds at the top of the chain, then places like this that just got all the misery dumped into it. Heaven going total darkside, then me and my twin being...some kind of freaks of nature, all this shit that just kept coming-I wonder if Dad was someplace just a little nicer. And I would do _anything_ to see Cas alive and well. And with Dad, of course. He was always happy when he was with Dad, and sad when he wasn't. It was the same for Dean, I remembered how miserable he'd been when Cas was in heaven trying to heal himself from all the damage that my brother and I _caused_.

I was really, really ready to get out of this hellhole of a universe.

"Hey. We got each other." I told Leo, holding my three-year-old sister in one hand as I curled my fingers around the back of Leo's neck in a gentle gesture. "We'll always have each other." The heartbreak in his innocent blue eyes tore my heartstrings right out.

I drove as Leo worked, and when he got tired he went into the backseat and cuddled with Mary, letting her wrap around him as he was in the skin of a soft, white rabit. Mary didn't fully understand everything that was going on right now. We bought her a coloring book which happily entertained her for a little while, but as the hours dragged on we realized it was time to pull over. I didn't quite know where we were driving to. We just wanted to get away.

* * *

"Let me get this straight." Sam stood up and he still had his gun pointed at the two boys. "You're telling me you're..._Dean's kids_?"

Leo had his arm gripped tightly to Robbie's shoulder, his head resting on his chest as he let out short pants. "RJ- please.." He whimpered, his voice husky from the pain.

"Not now," Robbie practically growled at him. "You can't."

"Hey!" Sam shook his gun. "Tell me again who you are!"

Suddenly Sam gasped and almost accidently pulled the trigger as instead of a limp blonde kid, Robbie's arms were filled with a gigantic, yellow and white snake who began to slither and loop around his brother's arms and chest. "Oh my god!" Sam shrieked, the gun shaking in his hand now. "What the hell is that thing?"

"Godammit, Leo. You couldn't have waited five minutes?" Robbie looked down at the snake in irritation, as its head slithered up from his chest and around the back of his neck, plopping down on his other shoulder. A little tongue flicked out in irritation.

_You try tolerating two broken fucking legs with no painkillers_. He shot out. _Now that I don't have any legs I'm all good. _

"Get the hell out." Sam barked. "Back away. Get out."

Robbie's eyes looked desparate. "Please. We can prove it. Didn't Dean tell you anything about us?"

Sam locked his jaw. Fuck. What if this really was them? But it had been a dream, right? But Dean had said something about Cas saying they were real?

"No. He didn't." Sam said gruffly. "I don't think he even told me your names." There had been one thing. "Fine. When's your birthday?"

"June 27th." Robbie answered without hesitation. "Now, I have to get my brother to the hospital. He broke his legs on the way here and I don't want him to be a snake forever."

"Don't come a step closer until you tell me what the hell you are." Sam squared his shoulders and put two hands on his gun.

"He's a skinwalker. Big whoop, man." Robbie rolled his eyes as the yellowish white tail of the snake curled into a loop around his bandaged wrist. "Where's Dad?"

"Can't you tell? You found _me_." Sam narrowed his eyes.

"All I know is he's nearby. Our...angel powers are kind of fading. I think mojo works different here. It's kind of..flickering, I guess." Robbie answered. "C'mon, Uncle Sammy. If you just bring us to dad..."

Sam instead whipped out his cell phone. "Don't fucking move."

He connected to the Mental Hospital and asked for Dean, and he finally heard his husky "Hello?" He sounded very tired.

"Was one of your kids a skinwalker?" Sam shot out. "From that dream?"

There was a long pause. Leo looped around Robbie's good arm, his muscles rolling and his scales flashing a little as he slithered his way up.

_He thought we were a dream? _Leo asked a little dejectedly.

"...How did you know that." Dean's voice seemed hollow, raw. Like he was trying to refrain from crying. "I didn't tell anyone that. Not even Cas."

"Because there's two kids here claiming to be your sons." Sam's voice was dripping with mistrust.

"Sam..if this is something the hospital put you up to..please..." Dean's voice was strained. "Just don't."

"Dean. There are people here at my motel room and tell me yes or no. If they're not really your kids I'm blowing their brains out." Sam held out the phone and put it on speaker. The boy and the snake began to inch closer, but Sam again shook the gun. "No. Stay where you are." He demanded.

Dean's fuzzy voice came through the cell phone's crappy speakers. "Say something." His voice just had an inkling of optimism in it.

Robbie's eyebrows tipped upward and he touched the corner of his eye with his finger. He hadn't heard his father's voice in just shy of three years. He smiled sadly. "Something." He said back, laughing wetly and comforting the snake by gently dragging his thumb over a few yellow and white scales on the tail that was wrapped around his wrist.

Sam waited for Dean's response. Of course he didn't want to kill kids, but he might have to. The phone only admitted fuzzy static for a few seconds as Dean tried to collect his voice enough to say anything.

"Dean?" Sam asked after close to ten seconds. "Dean, are you there?"

"Bobby, you're such a sarcastic li'l shit." Dean's voice was raw and happy and it sounded like he was about to cry.

Sam lowered his gun. Well, he'd take that as a yes.

"Where's Leo? Where's my Leo baby?" Dean asked, back at the mental hospital he was holding the corded phone cupped tight to his cheek as tears fell silently from his eyes.

Robbie looked down at the gigantic snake he had looped all around his body. "Um...he's currently a gigantic yellow python."

"Uncommon. Why?" Dean's voice sounded concerned as it came through the phone. Sam brought his eyebrows together as he finally could observe these kids without feeling like they were a danger. He felt pretty damn weirded out that one of them was a skinwalker, but what really gave him those goose bumps was the fact that Dean was so _casual_ about it. _What the hell?!_

"He broke his legs on the way over here. Don't know how bad." Robbie used his Hunter-report kind of tone. "We haven't been to a hospital yet. And I don't think our angel powers work the same here."

"Sam." Dean said through the phone, he almost seemed angry. No, very protective. "Bring Leo to the hospital and then check me the fuck out of this damn place."

Next thing Sam knows, he's driving two complete strangers in the back of the Impala. He was too distrustful still to let either of them sit in the passenger's side. The rain beat down hard on the car and the windshield wipers were pumping overtime as the car's tires swished wetly along the road.

Robbie was talking to the snake without the thing talking to him. Sam tried to mind his own business and once he got Dean to explain to him just _what the fuck was going on _he'd feel a little better.

"No, I can't think of any other animals offhand without legs." Robbie snorted to the snake. "Whatever! You were the one who chose to take this form, sorry it's not ideal!"

"Oh. Fine, I kind of get the cold-blooded thing." Robbie spoke up again and the python flicked its tongue out in irritation.

Robbie pressed his lips together in a line. "Uncle S- I mean, Sam? Would you mind turning the heat up a little?"

Sam wondered if _he_ was the one dreaming. He turned the knob up a few degrees.

He finally pulled up to the hospital and Robbie glared at the snake. "Sorry, Lee, this isn't the vet's office for a snake with broken legs." He laughed. "Now or never."

Sam almost shrieked again as the blonde kid materialized again in the backseat. It was just downright creepy, and went against everything he'd been taught as a kid. It was disgusting.

"Ow." Leo said through gritted teeth. "Dude, get me the fuck _in_ there already." He hissed out a breath as Robbie opened the door and scooped him up, shrugging him into his arms as he looked at Sam with Dean's green eyes.

"Sorry about all this." Robbie said genuinely. He paused for a second, as if contemplating if he should say what he was going to say next. "...And I can read your thoughts, you know. It's okay. We're used to it." Then he began to calmly walk towards the ER entrance.

Crap. So he knew he thought the skinwalking was disgusting. Dammit, now he felt bad as he watched the teenager carrying his brother into the ER. I mean, they hadn't been that bad, right? Sam damned his excessive sympathy and peeled off to check Dean out of the hospital and see just what the hell was even going on.


	3. Adventures in Vicodin

Thank you for reviewing jojospn and Fallen's Child! Even if I don't get too many reviews I still think I'm going to write this story because these characters deserve some happy times and a good ending :3

I'd love any suggestions at all! Thanks so much for reading!

* * *

"Dean." Sam prompted as his brother scribbled his signature to sign out of the hospital for good.

"Mm-hm?" Dean asked, focusing on the paper.

"Seriously, Dean, what the hell is going _on_?" Sam demanded. "Your kid- if it even is your kid - just turned into a goddamn animal and you're _okay_ with it? How the hell did they even get here in the first place?"

"I don't know how, okay? That's why we're going to have to ask them that. As to being okay with it- Sam, it took me a long time to accept it. But that's just who they are, alright? They're great kids. You just have to...look past that aspect." Dean explained, finally putting the pen down.

Sam was giving him a look, and his lips parted, about to say something, when Dean interrupted him right away. "If you tell me they're monsters then I'll rip your goddamn lungs out." Dean gave him a very papa-bear glare.

Sam sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Fine. So one's a skinwalker, okay. It's going to take a little while to get used to that, but-"

"Sam, that's not it." Dean sighed a little as they began to walk out together. "They're..a lot of other things too."

Sam brought his eyebrows together. "Like _what_?"

"Phoenix, for starters." Dean began. "They're immune to fire and can sometimes generate their own if they concentrate hard enough."

Sam looked confused. "Immune to fire? Dean, one of them was badly burned."

Dean perked up immediately. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Pretty badly. His whole arm was all bandaged up but I saw some of the burn." Sam stopped in his tracks. "Does that mean it's not them?"

"No, it's them all right. He must have encountered holy fire somehow. That's weird, Sam. That's really weird." Dean seemed lost in thought for a second.

"You know what's weirder? _Having kids you dreamt about come out of literally nowhere!"_

_"_I don't know why they'd leave Cas and their sister behind. We have to get to them asap." He took the keys from Sam's hand.

...

Leo was hopped up on vicodin, and was scheduled to get his casts made later today. The doctors asked if he'd jumped off a bridge because of how many places his legs were broken. Robbie obviously felt guilty as hell- Leo was the one who had absorbed all the impact of getting to this universe.

"How're you feeling?" Robbie asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Um...okee." Leo's head rolled to his chest. "I wanna have a lollipop."

"Dad's getting here soon. He'll...uh...he'll bring you something." Robbie patted his hand.

"I haven't been a horsie in a while. That's fun." Leo slurred. "Neigh neigh bitches." Robbie recognized he was getting ready to skinwalk and snatched up his wrist.

"No. No skinwalking here." Robbie scolded.

"But my _legs_ hurrtt!" Leo pouted. "Ouchies!"

"I know. Dammit, Leo, you should have roughed it. Now you're all high off meds." Robbie rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile.

Finally a nurse came in. "Leo, you're dad's here to check on you."

In came a very expectant Dean and a dubious Sam. Robbie scrambled to get off the edge of the bed. His breath hitched in his throat as he saw him.

"Dad!" He cried out, rushing forward and whipping his arms around Dean. The two slammed into each other and Dean squeezed his arms so tight around Robbie that he wheezed.

"God dammit, I thought I'd never see you again." Dean was crying again, his arms wrapped tightly around the black-haired kid as tears slipped from under his lids.

"I missed you so much." Robbie's voice was strained. "Fuck. We missed you so damn much."

"How long was I gone?" Dean asked into his ear, still not letting go.

"Almost three years." Robbie answered. "It looks like you went back in time or something. Holy crap, Dad, you're young."

The two finally pulled apart, Dean had his hands firmly gripping the kid's shoulders. "Tell me what happened."

Sam felt very out of it in this situation. Obviously Dean recognized them. But how could something he dreamed about suddenly become real?

Robbie frowned and averted his eyes. "Cas..." He started, swallowing hard. "Heaven got even worse. Towards us. A group of angels thought they had to erase all the Dark Years evidence completely, and they...Cas was murdered." He said very softly, he touched his bandaged burns absent-mindedly. "I tried to save him. They used a holy oil bomb on out house and...I tried, but the flames were too high and.. it was like he didn't want to live without you."

Dean swallowed hard and frowned. "Jesus Christ." He felt fear seize in his gut- he hadn't seen his Cas in a long time. What if something had happened to this one too?

"Where's my Mary?" Dean asked. "How old is she now? Three?"

Robbie nodded. "The journey was too dangerous. We...we had to leave her with Uncle Sammy." He buried his hands in his face. "I know it was for the best...she'll never be hunted down by heaven again...but I'm going to miss her so much. My baby sister..and Cas..everything we left behind."

Robbie's shoulders shook. "So much had happened in the past couple months, Dad, thank God we found you."

Dean rubbed his back and securely slung his arm around Robbie, who kept silent, and turned his attention to Leo in the hospital bed. "Hi, Leoniel." Dean reached out and took his hand.

"Hi, dada." Leo yawned. "I feel funny."

Dean squeezed his hand. "I know. It'll wear off soon, okay?"

Leo pursed his lips and nodded. "My legs are ouchies."

"I know." Dean smiled a little. He and Robbie so were going to make fun of him for this later. "You got taller, didn't you?"

Leo nodded. "Taller than RJ now."

Robbie blushed. "Only by, like, two inches." He shot back.

"Nope, three cuz we measured, 'member?" Leo looked very proud of his accomplishment.

"Fine. _Maybe_ three." Robbie admitted. "Not like it even matters anyway." He scoffed.

Dean looked at Leo and frowned. He didn't want him laying up with two casts for months when if Cas just came down here he could heal him in an instant.

Robbie sat down on the bed at his green eyes flicked from Dean to Sam's face. "Where's Cas? He could help, right?" He patted Leo's shin lightly.

"I haven't seen him in some time, Bobby." Dean admitted. "He's not responding to anything I ask."

"You...you told him about us, didn't you?" Robbie's green eyes began to sadly sparkle. "Didn't you tell him about the "dream"?"

"Breifly." Dean answered, lowering his eyes to his shoes. "Only a little more than Sam."

There was a tense silence in the hospital room. Sam awkwardly shoved his hands deep in his pockets of his coat. Robbie reached for Leo's hand and curled his fingers around it.

"You're ashamed of us. I get it." Robbie sighed, and Leo squeezed back as Robbie's gaze had dropped only to the hospital blanket. "I'd be ashamed of us too."

"That's not true." Dean shot back, his hands curling into fists. "That's absolutely not true."

"Than why didn't you tell Cas he's our dad?" Robbie finally met Dean's eyes. "Why didn't you tell _Sam_ about us?"

"_Cas_ is their dad?" Sam interrupted. His mind was reeling. "What the hell is going on here? Dean, I thought you said _you_ were their dad."

Dean ran his hand down his face. "I'm their dad, Sam, but so is Cas."

Sam looked very confused. "How exactly..?"

Dean shook his head. "It was a dream, Sam, a lot of stuff doesn't make sense about it."

"How are they here, then?" Sam motioned to the kids. "People don't just...fall out of thin air because you wish really hard!" Sam's voice was getting pretty loud.

Robbie locked his jaw. "Look. My brother found a way into this world, because we were angels we could make the passage. But he's really hurt right now and he needs some peace and quiet." He let go of his hand and patted it. "When he's off these meds I'm sure he'll be able to explain this all to you."

Robbie scrutinized the look of doubt Sam was giving him. He cocked his head to the side. "You still don't believe we are who we say we are. Why?"

Sam looked Robbie up and down. He did seem a lot like Dean and Cas, but his brother mostly. Leo also resembled the both of them, but it was ingrained in Sam's training to be mistrustful in situations like this.

"Wait. RJ, I have summin. Pretty pictures in my wallet." Leo smiled goofily. "I always carry my favorite pictures in my wallet." He pointed to his folded clothes nearby, his darkwash jeans, navy blue tee and brown coat. "It's in my coat pocket."

Dean immediately fished around for the wallet. He pulled it out, the black leather one he'd gotten Leo for his sixteenth birthday after he'd gotten his first paying job. He still had it after all this time. He pulled it open by the worn crease and saw the main picture he kept in one of the clear plastic pockets.

"That's my favorite." Leo pointed, and Dean saw the picture of the twins as babies in the bathtub, Leo as a baby seaturtle, water shining everywhere with a soaked and overwhelmed Dean. Dean pinched the stack in the wallet and pulled it out. He put the bath one on the back of the stack and looked at the next one.

The twins when they were twelve and had first gotten their anti-possession tattoos. Robbie was pulling down the corner of his shirt and grinnning like a madman, his hair (which was pretty long at the time seeing he was 'rebelling' by not cutting it) was tousled everywhere and fell into his eyes a little. He had his arm hooked around Leo's shoulders, by the looks of the frozen picture he'd been roughing him up a bit, and Leo was smiling shyly and also tugging down his shirt, but only so the top third of the tatto could be seen.

"Ah, Bobby. You thought you were so badass around school with that ridiculous haircut and tattoo." Dean chuckled, and Sam was curiously peering over his shoulder.

Robbie ran his hand through his shorter black hairs now and grinned. "Yeah. I guess I was a little snot back then."

Dean let his eyes linger on the photo before once again putting in to the back of the stack and looking at the next one. It was Dean's fiftieth birthday, and Dean's face was aglow from the candles and Cas was kissing him on the cheek, only his profile and greying temples showing, having just set the cake that he made down. The cake was lopsided and the big wax five was slipping away from the melted frosting he'd put on too early.

"Oh, honey. Why do you have this in here?" Dean felt tears come to his eyes.

"Cuz it's a pretty picture." Leo answered simply. "I just liked it."

"Holy shit Dean!" Sam exclaimed. "I mean..holy shit! So, I guess it really was real, huh? You look so _old_!"

Dean couldn't seem to tear his eyes from the photo. "I guess. You don't really notice as it's happening to you." He wondered how old his soul was now. Twenty years there, thirty years in hell...what, that made him over eighty?

Dean looked at it for much longer than the other two photos. He smudged his thumb across the profile of the greying Cas in the picture.

"Oh, sweetheart." He whispered under his breath. "I'm so sorry."

Now that he was all hopped up on emotions, he figure that maybe praying to Cas would be clearer. It had seemed to work that way when _he_ had been an angel, but then again, the rules could have been different here.

Dean tipped his head back and forced himself to tear his eyes away from the photo. "Cas." He said in a somewhat loud, strong voice. "Angel of the Lord Castiel. I'm praying to you right now. I need you to come down here. Please." He pleaded. "I need you."

At first, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Then, there came a loud crash in the corner of the room. Cas was splayed out, he'd knocked over one of the machines and there was blood on his clothes.

"Shit!" Robbie cried out, rushing and helping the angel to his feet by gently grabbing his wrist. "Cas? Are you okay?"

The man tilted his head and looked at Robbie, wiping off his hands on his coat. "...Yes. I am fine now. Heaven has been trying to keep me away from Earth for a little while. They believe I've become too sympathetic to the humans. I'm sorry, Dean, they are trying to keep a tight hold on me. I was not able to respond to you previous prayers." He once again squinted at Robbie.

"Dean who is this?" He asked. His eyes slid from Dean's face to Robbie's. Then back again.

"Um..." Dean tried to think fast. He couldn't tell Cas just yet the whole story. Not here, somewhere where they could sit down and really discuss all of it. Preferably alone. "Kids we picked up on a hunt."

Cas squinted at Robbie again. "I believe the phrase you humans use is 'bullshit.' " Cas said calmly. "This person has a blood relation to you."

Dean got worried. Dammit, this was happening all too fast. He should have told the two of them about his dream a long time ago. His palms got a little sweaty.

"Cas...these are my, um, my sons." Dean indicated to the two of them. "I really need you to heal his legs right now and I can explain later."

Cas looked at Leo. The kid smiled brightly back at him, gripping the hospital blanket tight. "Hi Cas!"

"How do they know my name?" Castiel asked.

Dean once again pointed to Leo's legs. "C'mon, please. I just really want to get out of here and back to the Batcave. We'll talk there, okay?"

Cas looked a little peeved but came forward to the bed and gently touched one of the lumps under the blankets. He smoothed his hand down the length of one leg, and then the other, and Leo let out a sigh of relief and seemed to relax into the bed.

"They might still be sore for a while." Cas explained as he straightened up. "He should be carried out to the vehicle."

He looked at Leo's freckled face now, as the teenager's eyes were looking into Cas's. Castiel didn't say anything as he blinked, and then Leo blinked back. Cas's eyes widened and Leo blinked again. "Cas...?" He asked, bringing his two arms up that had been resting on his tummy and he played with the hospital bracelet.

"You...you can't be." Castiel managed to say.

Leo looked a little scared and confused as the angel began to back away, blood draining from his face.

"Cas. Whoa. Calm down." Dean came forward and planted a hand on Castiel's chest, another steadying his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

The angel's face was very pale by now. "I'm a virgin in the human sense and angel world. This is not possible." His eyebrows drew together, an his eyes closed as he breathed a tight breath.

"Cas. Hey. Take a deep breath." Dean gently smudged his thumb on the angel's shoulder in subtle comfort. "It's all okay."

The angel took in a few breaths and ventured to look at Leo in the bed again. Leo looked ashamed that he'd been the one to scare Cas, his blue eyes very wide on his face.

"I have to talk with you later, okay?" Dean said in the most comforting voice he could muster. Dammit. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

"I...I.." Castiel mumbled, looking very faint. He swayed a little, and Dean held him firmly upright. "I will meet you back in the bunker." He disappeared in a messy flapping of wings.

Dean turned back to Leo and the kid was wringing his hands and he had his head bowed. "What did I do?" He asked meekly.

"Nothing. Now, let's bail you out of here Dean Winchester style. We already spent enough today on that stupid mental hospital." Dean tucked Leo into his arms, and his head flopped to his shoulder.

"I feel like I'm floating on a cloud. Weeee!" The nineteen-year-old squealed.

Dean grunted as he held up his weight. Those three inches really did count for a lot, he weighed a lot more than Dean remembered. "Why'd you let him take those loopy meds, Rob?" Dean asked with a chuckle.

Robbie crossed his arms. "I was worried, okay? He was hurting!"

Dean laughed again as he squeezed Leo a little. "Just letting you know we're never letting this go, baby." He teased.

"What...?" Leo asked mistily, closing his eyes. "Dada I'm sleepy. Where's my lollipop, Robbie promised you had one...Am I gonna be like this forever?"

Dean made Sam cover him as the four of them sprinted out of the hospital, Leo still in the white-and-blue gown. People were shouting for them to stop but they never broke pace.

On the drive back to the newly acquired bunker, the two boys slept in the backseat, and Robbie snored a little. Dean knew that with every mile they traveled he was getting closer to having to explain to both Sam and Cas.

He had a kind of pinching sensation down in his gut. But it tended to go away when he looked in the rear view and saw the two of them sleeping peacefully in the backseat, Leo in that hospital gown and Robbie with his wrapped up arm.


	4. Tucking In

Thank you for reviewing jojospn and Fallen's Child :) To jojospn, yes, I am planning on continuing this and I don't think I'm wanting to delete anymore. Your review made me smile so much so thank you!

On with the story!

* * *

When Dean finally unlocked the Bunker door and went inside, the boys were too exhausted to do much exploring as of now. Dean led them to the closest spare bedroom and gave them new toothbrushes even though they just went to sleep without brushing anyway. Dean tucked them in quickly, and then went to find Cas.

The angel was inside sitting at one of the chairs at their long table, just sitting there and staring at the lamp with his head resting in his palms.

"Hey, sweetheart." Dean said gently, coming up and sitting in the chair next to him.

Their relationship so far was...complicated. Dean was one-hundred percent in love with him, and Cas loved him back, but was terrified to show it. He was uncomfortable with Dean kissing him still, and preferred subtle gestures as of now. He told Dean that he'd never been in a relationship before and that he was scared, and Dean said he could wait as long as he needed.

Dean reached out and gently dragged his pinky along the back of Cas's hand, something the angel had told him he'd liked before. Cas lifted his hand silently and Dean laced his fingers in Cas's. "Are you okay?"

Cas looked at Dean with a heartbroken expression. "I don't know, Dean." He said very quietly. "I don't understand."

"I don't understand either." Dean answered. "But you gave me a very smart kid. Somehow he figured out how to find us here."

Cas met Dean's eyes, and there were only pinpricks for pupils. He was speechless for a few seconds. "Dean..I-I'm not ready for kids." He stammered, lowering his eyes. "I can barely even kiss you without getting scared."

Dean dragged his thumb along the back of Cas's hand. "That's okay." He said softly. "They're not really kids anymore, anyways. They're more like adults."

Cas avoided Dean's eyes. "I don't know what I am supposed to do." He admitted. "This is...very surprising."

"Hey, I'll be right here with you the whole time, okay?" Dean once again tried to say in a comforting voice. "Are you ready to meet them?"

The angel sucked in a breath. "I don't know."

"Well, they're going to be living with us, so it's okay if you wait." Dean chuckled a little. "I love you, Cas."

The angel's eyebrows tipped upward. "I...love you too, Dean." He said shyly.

Dean smiled at the angel and still gently held his hand. "I'm gonna hit the hay. Can I have a goodnight kiss?"

Cas blushed and looked away, nodding. He pulled forward and-

Dean felt the soft tip of his nose rub a little on his. Dean laughed so hard his sides hurt. "I can't believe I taught you how to Eskimo Kiss." He wiped his eye.

"I told you it's my favorite for the stage we're in now." Cas explained shyly. Dean never stopped smiling brightly at him. "G'night, sweetheart." He took the side of his face in his palm and kissed his hairline.

"Goodnight, Dean." Cas mumbled, as Dean unwound his hand and the angel's heart was hammering in his chest as he watched Dean slip away into his room.

Cas couldn't sleep, but it didn't help to spend those hours anxious. Usually Cas waited around and read books or sometimes he cleaned things like the kitchen. He was reading when he heard the disgusting sound of retching and something splashing into water. He hurried to get up and find the source of the noise, and saw a light illuminating from the bathroom in a door shape.

Cas slowly opened the door and saw the blonde teenager his head in the bowl and his knees bent, his back arching as he retched and coughed again. He was wearing only boxers, and Cas could see his anti-possession tattoo on his chest just like Dean. He spat and dragged his hand across his mouth, groaning and finally turning to see Cas peeking from the doorway.

"Are you alright?" Cas asked quietly, because the humans would be sleeping and he didn't want to wake them.

" 'm okay." Leo mumbled. "It's probably just the medicine."

Cas pushed his way inside and dropped to his knees, tentatively putting his hand on Leo's back. "Would you like me to get you anything?" He asked quietly.

Leo met Cas's deep blue eyes, frowned a little, and next thing Cas knew he was being squeezed very tightly and had the kid's head pressed to the crook of his neck. His arms were stiff and it took him a minute to reciprocate and press his palms to the kid's back.

"I'm so glad you're here," Leo whispered, images of Cas burning still fresh in his mind. He tucked him in closer and kissed him on the cheek. "God...it was awful. I thought I lost you forever."

Leo pulled away and looked into his bewildered face with a little smile. "I knew that I could find you 'n Dad again."

Cas blinked as he looked into his face. "May I..observe you?" Cas asked, and Leo smiled a little as Cas's hands began to uncertainly reach for his face.

"I guess so." Leo laughed and Cas took his cheeks in his palms. Leo blinked as Cas fixed him with an unbending stare.

He looked at his big, deep blue eyes and the soft slope of his nose, the splash of freckles on his cheeks and under his light eyebrows, his eyelashes with blonde tips and light brown bases and his short honey-colored hair. "I very much like your freckles." Cas said shyly after a minute.

Leo smiled brightly. "The old you said that too. You told me that me 'n Dad had two different constilations that you could always map when you closed your eyes." Leo then looked very naseous again and retched into the toilet.

Cas didn't know why he felt such a strong emotion when Leo told him about the constilations. He had memorized Dean's freckles a long time ago. Cas still referred to this person as Dean's son, but he couldn't quite wrap his head around the other fact.

The angel emptied a cup full of toothbrushes and filled it with water and gave it to the kid, who looked very thankful as he took it. "Thanks, dad." He said, without realizing. A second passed before his eyes widened. "Sorry, I-I mean-" He stammered.

Cas felt very nervous again. "It's okay." He said quietly. "I will get you a bowl in case you'd like to go to sleep."

Cas brought him a bowl and helped him to his feet, leading him back to his bed and awkwardly watching as Leo tucked himself in, groaning. "G'night, Cas." He said groggily, pulling the blankets over himself and curling around his bowl.

Cas didn't know what to do in this situation. Dean often liked to reach out and use touch as comfort. But Cas did not know where to touch him to make him feel reassured. Dean usually touched his hands, but Leo's were hidden under the covers. Dean liked to kiss Cas on the hair or right on his hairline, but Cas didn't know if that was only for lovers and would inappropriate for children. He decided to touch where Dean usually kissed, that should work.

Cas reached out and poked Leo on the cheek a little harder than he'd originally intended. "Good night. What is your full name?" Cas felt very embarrassed that he didn't know.

Leo was laughing huskily as he rubbed his cheek. It would probably take a little while for Cas to get used to this whole "Dad" thing. "Leoniel Samuel Winchester." He answered. "You were the one who named me. Well, that's what Dad always tells us."

Cas reached out and touched him on the forehead, another place Dean usually kissed. "Good night, Leoniel. Please sleep well."

"I'll try," Leo yawned and nuzzled back down into his covers. Cas stood there and didn't know what to do when it involved sleeping.

Finally he turned on his heel and quietly walked from the room, passing by Robbie, who was on his belly and splayed out with his arms falling off the bed, one leg twisted in the blankets and another bare and hanging off the edge of the bed. His red plaid boxers had slipped down and just the start of his buttcrack was showing. He snored loudly, his mouth open just slightly with his cheek smushed to the mattress, a small stain of drool forming. His dark hair was spiky and all oved the place.

Cas decided he looked very uncomfortable. He pulled his heavy sleeping limbs back on the bed and flipped him around gently to be on his back, pulling the blanket over him instead of being twisted around one leg. Robbie, half-awake, snored and his head lolled to the side, curling his fingers around the blanket and bringing it closer. Cas recognized his nose and his own black hair.

"Goodnight," Cas also said, just because it would feel strange saying goodnight to one twin and not the other. He made sure he shut the door all the way and padded down the hallway.

He suddenly was hit with a bought of lonliness. He wished to be in Dean's presence. He went to his bedroom and slowly opened the door, maybe he would just watch over him. Dean must have been used to being alert while sleeping because he stirred in bed. "Cas? Is that you?"

The angel took a few more steps into the room, but then stopped in his tracks. "I..I am not coming here for to do the sex." Cas wanted to make it clear that wasn't why he was here. Just thinking about having sex with Dean made his stomach tight and the area between his legs felt funny and he didn't like it when that happened.

"Oh, honey, I know." Dean said softly with a smile in his voice. "Come here, sweetheart. We can do more Eskimo kissing if you want."

Cas did like it when Dean called him names that weren't his nickname. The tenderness behind the words make his heart squeeze a little. "I am here because I want to learn how to say goodnight well." He continued into the room and stood by Dean's bed, the human was now sitting upright and squinting into the dark.

"You mean for Leo and Rob?" Dean asked, rubbing his eye tiredly. "Come sit here. I'll show you."

Cas slid up onto the bed and Dean sat up straighter. "Well, for kids you usually want to do something sweet but easy. Like a kiss on the forehead is if you're feeling very loving. Mainly you can do something like push the hair off their forehead or kiss their hair." Dean demonstrated by doing it all to Cas.

"See?" He asked, his voice groggy with sleep. "But never on the lips. That's just for you and me, okay?"

Cas nodded and clasped his hands together in his lap. He felt very nervous all the sudden. "Can you kiss me on the lips again?"

Dean smiled in the dark and curled his fingers around the back of Cas's neck. "You're not too scared anymore?" He asked gently.

"No." Cas replied. "I want to..I want to start moving forward. I want to see if I like it if I try it again."

Dean pulled forward in the dark and gave him another Eskimo kiss, mainly to calm him down a little. "Okay. Here goes."

He pulled forward just a little and gently kissed Cas on the mouth, planting it softly with a pucker and pulling away. His eyes widened as the angel followed his movement and deepened the kiss. Dean snaked his hand through the hairs on the back of his neck and held his face closer, working his mouth open and running his tongue along the seam of the angel's lips, which parted only slightly as he flicked his tongue inside. They rolled over, Cas pinning down Dean with his legs planted on either side of Dean's waist, Dean pushing up his head by extending his neck and pressing harder into Cas's lips.

In his grogginess, Dean forgot that this wasn't the Cas he slept in the same bed with and made love to almost every night. Dean moaned and he felt himself already beginning to get hard. His hands tangled in his hair and Dean kissed even more tenderly, his hips rolling up against Cas's and he discovered that the angel was hard too.

The angel suddenly ripped away with a small whimper and rolled off of Dean. "Dean..." He said in embarrassment. "I..I'm starting to feel very funny."

"Hey. It's okay." Dean ran his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I got carried away." He combed his fingers through his hair once again.

Cas was frowning in the dark. "No. I-I liked it. But I don't like when my body begins to do things I am not telling it to do..."

He shut his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm a bad boyfriend, Dean."

Dean smiled sadly in the dark. "No, Cas, you're perfect. It's okay, I can wait."

Cas rattled out a breath. He felt like he was being stupid and acting like a child, but he couldn't help that he was scared. "I would like to cuddle please?"

Dean smiled and sucked in a breath. "C'mere. I'll show you how."

Dean wrapped his arm around Cas and brought him closer, and he fit next to him like a puzzle piece. Cas rested his head by his collarbone, his hair tickling Dean's jaw. Dean yawned and closed his eyes, ready for sleep again. Cas wanted to let him sleep, though he also wanted to ask all about the nysterious boys that he was falling in love with already.


	5. Imposters

Thanks for the review jojospn! I'm glad you noticed! I'm planning a few other reverses for this story too, one occurs in this chapter. I hope you can see which one I mean!

Thank you for reading! I will definitely try to keep writing because even though this series isn't insanely popular, I love these characters and writing about them comes very easily to me, and I love it. That's what this whole website is for anyway :)

Hope you like this chapter!

* * *

When Dean woke up the next morning, he wasn't so surprised to find that Cas had left once again. It must get pretty boring sitting awake in one position for hours.

Dean yawned and stretched, climbing out of bed and shuffling out to the kitchen. When he looked down, he saw a white mug with black coffee being held out to him. Dean smiled and looked up, and saw Cas silently holding the coffee out for him.

"Good morning." The angel said gruffly. Cas, even though he'd obviously been awake all night, almost looked like he'd been sleeping as his hair was all messy and his eyes a little groggy.

Dean took the cup by the handle and smiled brightly. "Thanks, sweetheart."

"I made it just how you like!" Robbie piped up from the kitchen where he was eating cereal. "Cas helped."

Dean sat down at the table and sighed a little, putting the mug down with a clink. Sam was at the farthest end of the table, being an ass and ignoring them as he had his nose in his research. Dean just didn't get it.

Dean looked around. "Where's Leo?"

Robbie shrugged and munched his cereal loudly. "Dunwo. Sleeping still?"

Dean took a sip of his coffee and pulled the newspaper toward him. He then glanced at the clock. Ten o' clock. He opened the paper with a noisy shuffle and spoke up. "Go wake up your brother, Rob, wouldja?"

Robbie shoved the last of his cereal into his mouth and got up with a nod, disappearing into the hallway to the bedrooms. Dean let out a sigh and reached out to Cas's hand for comfort, dragging his pinky over the back of his hand and Cas curled just his pinky around Dean's finger. Dean felt just a little better about having to confront his brother now.

"Sam." Dean spoke up gruffly.

Sam finally lifted his head from the book he was reading at looked at Dean. Dean narrowed his eyes. "I just...don't _get_ you, man."

Sam locked his jaw and glanced away. "_Someone_ has to keep their guard up, Dean, and it's obviously not going to be you or Cas, now is it?" He said bitterly.

Dean felt speechless. "Sam, I know my own sons when I see them."

Sam groaned and made a frustrated shake of his head. "Newflash, Dean, our lives don't just..have good things happen to them, okay? How do you know this isn't some kind of ploy by monsters who have seen into your head? You just go and trust these _strangers_, Dean, this goes against everything Dad has ever taught us!" Sam stood up roughly, the chair dragging noisily behind him as he kept his balled-up hands on the table. "You're blinded by this, Dean! Use common sense, dammit!"

Dean didn't know what to say to him. He felt like his blood was boiling as he felt rage hot in his chest. He balled his hand into a fist, and Cas gently placed his hand on top of his fist. "I understand how this is a big shock for all of us." He said quietly. Dean shut his eyes and fumed. He understood Sam's side of the story, of course, but wished he would just believe him when he said they were his kids.

"I will go try and help Robert." Cas said, just wanting to let Dean be so he could have some time to think. Dean heard his footsteps as he left the room and let out a frustrated sigh, finally opening his eyes and running his hand through his hair. He wanted to have a long talk with Sam later when he'd calmed down a little more.

Then he heard a scream.

* * *

"Leo. C'mon, baby bro, time to get up." Robbie nudged his brother on the shoulder. Leo groaned loudly and shoved his head, facedown in the blankets, even further into the pillows.

"Dude. Leave me alone." Leo waved him away and his arm landed back on the mattress with a thump. "I feel like shit."

"C'mon, this new place is really cool! You'll like it, I promise!" Robbie rolled his shoulder again. "Come _on_, Lazy!"

Robbie elongated into his gigantic grey wolf form, nudging Leo with his cold wet nose and snuffling as he moved his nose to try and flip him onto his back. Leo laughed at how much his breath tickled and shoved his head playfully away. "Stop! That tickles!"

Then there was a loud scream.

Robbie was too shocked to turn back for a second as the boy and the wolf both whipped their heads to look at the source of the noise.

Cas already had his blade in his hand, his face was pale. "Imposters! _DEAN_!" He was screaming, slashing with his blade as Leo spread his arms wide and sheilded Robbie behind his back, who fell back to human form on the floor with a thump and scrambled backwards.

"Stop! It's not what it looks like!" Leo yelled, narrowly avoiding a lethal slash from Cas. Robbie instantly scrambled up off the floor and shoved Leo behind him, unscathing his own blade and blocking one of Cas's slashes.

"Dad!" Robbie cried out, gasping as just the very tip of the Cas's blade swiped across his shoulder.

Dean rushed into the room and held Cas back as the angel tried to hit Robbie with another blow. "Cas, stop it!" Dean demanded, pulling him roughy backward by the shoulders as Robbie hissed out a breath and covered the slash on his shoulder with his hand, red already seeping into his cotton tee as he breathed hard, his shoulders moving up and down with each breath. Leo looked terrified behind him.

Dean felt his breath catch in his throat as he saw a glimmer of bright light behind the blade-wound. "Bobby, are you alright?" He was still holding Cas's shoulders tight, as if he'd attack them again.

Robbie panted and pressed his palm harder over the wound. "Peachy," He breathed, doubling over a little and resting his other hand on his knee.

"Dean! What are you doing, they're monsters!" Cas exclaimed, his blade was shining with just a little bit of blood and still not retracted. "Sam was right!"

"No, he wasn't, dammit!" Dean felt even worse than from a few moments ago. "I have to explain to you, Cas." Dean's voice dropped and now just seemed hollow. "I have so much I have to explain."

"We were..we were just playing around!" Leo spoke up, his eyebrows drawing together. "Dad, we-we forgot." His voice was ridden with guilt. "I'm sorry."

Sam thundered in a second later. "What's going on? Dean, are you okay?"

The boys stayed in their new room like Dean asked, as he went outside to explain the whole story to Cas and his brother. Leo had shoved himself into the corner of the room, a golden retriever, his tail tucked between his legs as he whimpered guility when they heard Dean and Sam begin to start yelling at each other.

"They can't say here, Dean! They're dangerous!" Sam's words felt like they were biting right into Robbie's chest.

"No they're not!" Dean shot back with twice the intensity. "I've raised them both ever since they were born! They're not monsters and they're not dangerous!"

"You made me shoot a woman I loved in the head because she was a werewolf, and now suddenly, you have an exception?"

"They're my _sons_!"

_Hey_. Robbie said kindly into Leo's thoughts. _Just don't listen to them_. He came up to the dog and guided him to turn around and face him. Humans could never quite get to the level of the guilty look that dogs can muster. The shiny, dark brown doggy eyes bored into Robbie as he stroked the dog on the side of the head, down to his furry neck. Leo didn't think-speak back but instead only whimpered and nudged his nose into Robbie's hand.

"We can live on our own if they kick us out." Robbie whispered, angrily wiping a tear away that had dribbled onto his cheek. "There's no Purifiers here, so we'd be safe. We have a couple hundred dollars between the two of us." He whispered huskily. He got a very deep pit in the bottom of his stomach when he considered if they might actually have to run away from the only family they had left and enter the big, bad world by themselves.

"They stay. End of discussion. Sam, if you have a damn problem, you can keep it to yourself. I'm not changing my mind." They heard Dean end the arguement, and footsteps parting in two different directions.

Dean stormed back into their bedroom to find Robbie with the yellow-furred dog. "Come with me. Let me get that shoulder looked at." Dean said gruffly, he looked flushed with anger and his hands were still clentched into fists.

Leo buried his nose into the rumpled up covers and hid his doggy face under the covers. Dean led Robbie to the kitchen table, on the way he just caught a glimpse of Cas, he was sitting on a windowsill and looking outside, his shoulders slumped and he was in a position that he looked like he'd stay in for a while.

Dean brought out a kit and patted the table, indicating for Robbie to hop up. He tipped hydrogen peroxide onto a cotton ball and dabbed at the bleeding slash that ran a couple inches along his shoulder.

"We don't have to stay, you know." Robbie said quietly as he dabbed the cotton ball onto his his shoulder wound. "Me and Leo could go out and live on our own. We wouldn't be hunted down by Heaven anymore, we could get jobs and-"

"Shut up." Dean growled, still fuming at what Sam had said. "You're staying with me and that's final." He packed a square of gauze onto his shoulder and taped the sides, ripping it with his teeth. "Don't be ridiculous, Bobby."

Robbie gave Dean a _look_ and Dean understood completely even without the ability to speak through bonds anymore.

"Your father still loves you very much." Dean said sadly as he unwound Robbie's bandages gently from his arm, they'd sometimes stick with crusty yellow and Robbie bit his teeth together as the raw skin was pulled a little. Dean thought about how ironic it had to be that he was talking about this as he cleaned the wound that Robbie had inflicted on himself trying to save the other Cas.

"He's just...Robert, he's just confused." Dean sighed. He took a damp washcloth and began to dab at the burns. "Just like I was at first."

Robbie sighed and let his eyelids slipped closed. "Well, Leo's pretty damn torn up about all of this. He's mostly the thing that's worrying me."

Dean smiled sadly as he moved farther up his arm. "I know. You always were like that, ever since you were tiny." Dean sighed. "I know this is hard for you, but..just put Leo aside for a few minutes. I want to know what _you're_ feeling."

Robbie looked off to the side. "Like shit." He huffed. "I mean...jesus, Cas was always the one on our side back at home. He defended us when you wanted us gone, he..." Robbie's hands curled into a fist. "He screamed when he saw me. Like I was some kind of freak." He said bitterly. "I thought this Cas..I thought he'd be the same."

Dean stopped dabbing for a second, to look Robbie in the eye. "He _is_ the same. You just have to give him time." Dean said quietly. "He's afraid, Rob. He doesn't know how to feel."

Robbie shuddered out a sigh. "I guess." He mumbled. "Think he'll heal my shoulder soon?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, he will. I'm sorry, Rob, I would, but I'm not an angel anymore. You know that."

Robbie barely nodded, hardly acknowledging what he'd even said. Dean reached up and cradeled his pale cheek in his palm. Robbie looked back with sorrowful, pained eyes, flicking his eyes down as his lashes fanned on his face.

"I don't want you to think I'm ashamed of you. Ever." Dean told him firmly. "You and your brother were one of the best things to ever happen to me."

Robbie was silent as he huffed out a breath and Dean took the hand from his face. Then, the moment was over. Robbie hopped down off the table and shrugged his shirt back on, striding again from the room.

Dean had been very foolish to think any part of this would be easy.


	6. For You

Hello again! Thank you for reviewing Fallen's Child, jojospn & BlackTShirtFan :) :) *hugs for all of you*

I don't want to annoy you with a long author's note. But I just wanted to say I have a lot planned here, including a hunt in which the boys go back to a nearby High School to investigate and one of them has to ask for advice about a crush. Awkward parent and children talks coming soon.

And what do you guys think- should they meet one of their half-sisters? Emma, or Claire? Take your pick, please! That would be quite fun to write, I think.

Thanks for reading!

* * *

"We could steal a car, easy." Leo said quietly, he was sitting criss-cross on his bed and looking over at Robbie. "Hustle some pool, invest the few hundred dollars we do have. When we get to a big city I could perform as like a macaw or monkey or something and we could get lots of tips."

Robbie shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Leo, dammit, we should be allowed to live with our own _dad_. And that's not a life I want. You don't want that either."

Leo shrugged a little. "Yeah, but I mean..." His face dropped into a frown. "You're right. But it's not like we're dangerous or anything. I just wish things were back to normal. Like at home." Leo said in a small voice.

"_This_ is our new home now." Robbie clentched his jaw. "Kinda was hoping for a warmer welcome, you know?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah." He said in a pinched voice. "I guess we'll have to work things out. I can't even do backflips as a human, so as monkey- I guess we can forget it."

Robbie pressed his lips together in a line. Maybe they would have to leave. "G'night, Lee."

"Night, RJ." The covers shuffled noisily as Leo turned over in bed. "We'll figure something out."

Robbie stayed up much later than he would have liked. He was just beginning to doze off when spare bedroom door creaked open.

"Dad? Is that you?" Robbie called out groggily.

The door creaked open just a little more, light spilling into the room, and just by the shadow Robbie knew it was Cas.

"Don't...don't change again, please." Cas was stepping in slowly with his palms up, slowly approaching Robbie. Robbie's heart sunk a little in his chest, the way the angel was looking at him like he was about to attack him.

"I won't. What's going on?" Robbie asked in a hushed voice.

Cas finally stopped about two feet in front of him and lowered his hands cautiously. " I had a very long thought today. And I would like to heal the injury I inflicted on you this morning."

Robbie frowned a little and shrugged the corner of his shirt off his shoulder, exposing the square of gauze, and he slowly peeled off the tape to reveal the tender scab. Cas approached hesitantly and lay his palm over the wound, it glowed a faint white before the wound disappeared into pale, unblemished skin.

"Thanks," Robbie said a little bitterly. He pulled his shirt back to cover his shoulder.

"I...truly am sorry." Cas said softly, awkwardly standing there as Robbie sat on the edge of his new bed. "I was afraid and did not think before I acted. I can sense my grace within you and know that you must be of my relation."

Robbie shrugged. "It's okay. No one was seriously hurt. And I get that you were scared. I know it's a lot to take in."

Cas looked sadly at Robbie, barely making him out in the dark. "I will be right back."

Robbie was pretty confused to see Cas simply walk back out of the room again. Robbie waited sleepily for close to two minutes before the man came back in, holding something.

"For you." Cas held out a bowl to Robbie, who took it and peered curiously inside. A single scoop of vanilla ice cream was at the bottom of the bowl, along with a fork.

"Thanks, dad." Robbie felt tears coming to his eyes for some reason he couldn't explain.

"It's a comfort food. I hear that people eat much ice cream when they're sad. Macaroni is also a comfort food but I did not have time to make that tonight for you." Cas explained.

Robbie managed to get a bit on his fork and popped it into his mouth. "Yum," He tried to sound enthusiastic about it. "It's...really comforting me."

Cas looked extemely proud of himself. "Goodnight, Robert." He said happily, pulling forward and kissing him on the forehead. Robbie couldn't help but laugh.

"I feel like I'm five years old again." Robbie chuckled, putting another forkful of ice cream into his mouth.

Cas looked a little dejected. "Dean instructed me to do that when I am feeling particularly loving." He said in a softer voice, wringing his hands together. Robbie felt that strange tug in his chest again and put his bowl aside, wrapping his arms tight around Cas and feeling his palms press to his back in return.

"I'm sorry if I'm not the son you've always wanted." Robbie said, his words muffled by Cas's shirt. "I know I'm not perfect."

"You're perfect to me." Cas said back. "I love Dean very, very much. And you are a part of him as well. And I never thought it would be possible."

Cas didn't say anything else. Robbie curled his fingers around the worn fabric of his coat and dug the pads of his fingers into his back, hugging him close as he still sat on the edge of his bed and his face was smushed comfortably into the soft fabric of his father's shirt, flashes of memory bolted through his brain.

Orange poison flames everywhere, screaming Cas's name as he ran through the burning hallways, knowing that it was too late and that he was already dying...

"I'm here now." The angel said softly, gently stroking the dark hairs on the back of his head. "It's all okay."

Robbie choked back a sob and squeezed him a little tighter. "I tried." He hiccuped. "I really tried. You didn't want to be saved."

"It's strange, isn't it? Knowing how an alternate version of myself lived and died." Cas's voice was low and comforting as it rumbled.

"He left us! He didn't have Dean and he just chose to leave us!" Robbie finally let the feelings he'd been bottling up spill from his lips. "He didn't even try!"

"Yes, he would have. Maybe it was too late." Cas held him closer as Robbie was shaking like a leaf. "Maybe he knew, Robert. That you'd be inherited to me."

Robbie sobbed a little harder at that. He'd never thought of it like that before.

"Do you need me to stay a little longer?" Cas asked after another moment passed, and Robbie had calmed down already. Robbie pulled away a little and shook his head.

"I'm okay. Thank you for- for trying." Robbie dragged the back of his hand across his eyes. "To accept me."

"I may have you incorporated into my life at an older age, but that doesn't mean you aren't my son." Cas gulped a little nervously as he said the phrase he'd avoided saying ever since he'd found out the truth.

"Don't be nervous, dad." Robbie said with a wet little laugh. "We already love you too."

The angel got a very overwhelmingly happy expression on his face that twisted up his expressions a little. He scooped up the ice cream bowl and stumbled out of the room, not quite knowing what to do with all these emotions suddenly welling up in him.

Then he all but ran back in.

"I forgot to say goodnight again." Cas stammered in an embarrassed voice. "Goodnight Robert." He squinted and saw a lump of fur curled up on top of a rumple of blankets on Robbie's bed.

"Goodnight, Leoniel." He reached out and gently pet the calico cat, smoothing down the fur starting at the shoulders and running his palm down his back. The cat kept his eyes closed and purred a little in his sleep, his tail curling a little tighter together with happiness.

"G'night." Robbie laughed and sniffed, and the angel finally left again, shutting the door behind him. Robbie smiled in the dark as he collapsed back on his bed. Leo was curled up and still sleeping, and Robbie flopped on the bed and flicked a dark brown ear, which shivered in annoyance.

"Psst." Robbie laughed, flicking his ear again. The cat's tail thrashed in irritation and his one ear flattened a little.

_Fuck you._ Leo groaned, the tip of his tail curling up and down quickly as the cat stretched out a little.

"We're gonna stay." Robbie whispered happily. "Cas told me."

_You couldn't wait until the morning to tell me that? _The calico's green eyes split open just a sliver and if cats could give deathglares this was one of them.

"Sour puss! Don't get catty with me!" Robbie laughed (knowing how much his brother absolutely despised puns), he was in a great mood now, tickling the creature's furry belly until he felt the soft fur disappear and he felt the cotton of a tee shirt under his fingertips instead.

"St-o-ah-o-o-p!" Leo laughed, kicking his legs and trying to roll away. "Seriously, dude? We're not five anymore!"

"You'd think we were if you just saw what happened." Robbie cracked up. "Now get. When the hell did you even get on my bed? Like you said, we're not five."

Leo rolled his eyes and swung his legs off the side and stood up, yawning and itching his back.

"And no sneaking back in here later." Robbie scolded.

"_Fine_." Leo slipped under his own covers and pulled them up over his head. "I missed Mary cuddling with me, okay? No need to be a jerk about it."


	7. Freaks Together

Hello to my lovely readers! I am seriously so happy that I have some people actually following this story, I just love writing for these characters and I'm glad I have readers :3

Thank you for reviewing "Guest" (who may or may not be Fallen's Child haha), jojospn and TheTimeLordWithNoName :)

On with the story!

* * *

"Mornin'," Robbie yawned, startling Sam as padded into the kitchen, scratching the back of his head, his hair was messy and a lot like Cas's in the morning. He was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants, Dean's ratty old pair, and a dark green, worn cotton tee. He had some kind of furry brown creature draped around his shoulders, as he made a B-line to the coffee machine. "Dad's not up yet, huh?"

San looked down at his pan of eggs and hesitated to answer. He still wasn't used to the boys living here. "Uhm...uh...yeah." He stammered, pushing the eggs around with his spatula.

Sam looked over in curiosity at the mysterious brothers, and was completely absorbed in what they were doing. It just still hadn't really sunk in for him. How could it?

Robbie was humming a little to himself, and Sam finally recognized the creature as a little brown ferret curled around his shoulders. Robbie seemed almost like he was talking to himself, and Sam wondered if their communication had anything to do with being half angels.

_I miss Mary._ Leo told Robbie, his tiny ears flattening a little onto his head. _A lot._

"I do too, bud." Robbie spoke up, placing in the paper coffee strainer in the machine with a papery crinkle. "But she'll be alright. She'll have her cousins to grow up with and we know Uncle Sammy's gonna take great care of her. She probably won't even remember us, she was only three."

Sam perked up at the mention of his name, but it was pretty apparent they weren't addressing him. But who were they talking about, his alternate self? And who was he going to take care of?

_I just wish we could have brought her with us._ Leo snuggled his tiny head a little closer to Robbie's neck.

"I know." Robbie replied sadly. He missed his baby sister too, and even though it ached that he had to leave her behind, he knew it was for the best. "Chin up, baby bro." He moved his head just a little and kissed the ferret on the ear, and the animal closed his one eye as Robbie's lips pressed briefly to that side if his face.

_Pansy_. Leo laughed, closing his eyes and looking like he was going to fall asleep on his shoulders with his paws tucked under his chin.

"Well, fuck you too, man." Robbie chuckled, shutting the coffee machine with a dull thump and turning it on.

Then he turned to face Sam, alarm on his face. "Shit!" He cried out, and Sam didn't realize that part of his long sleeve had caught fire just a second ago as he was so deeply observing the boys. Robbie made a strange kind of closing motion with his hand and the fire completely vanished.

His green eyes were wide and alarmed as he grabbed his Uncle's wrist and examined to see if there was any burns. "Are you okay?" Robbie asked quickly, and Dean recognized the all-business tone that Dean always used.

Only his sleeve had been a little burnt, but his skin was completely unharmed, only flushed a little bit pink. "Fine." Sam grunted, rubbing his wrist a little. "Uh..thanks."

Robbie's green eyes crinkled up at the corners like Cas's did as he chuckled at Sam, letting go of his wrist and instead tickling the ferret's chin as if it was an inside joke between the two of them. "Geez, Uncle Sammy. You gotta be more careful with fire, I won't always be there to put it out."

Before Sam even noticed, the slightly taller blonde kid was right next to his brother, an equally sunny smile on his freckled face. "Yeah, Uncle Sammy. Don't be such a klutz," He laughed. "You almost burned down the damn house!"

Sam went very red at the kids realizing just how intensely he'd been observing them. And somehow they were getting the same response out of him from teasing, that Dean would usually induce.

"Um..yeah. I'll try." That was all he was able to say as he slipped his partially-cooked eggs from the pan and quickly made a flustered exit out of the kitchen.

Dean was just stumbling out of his room when he saw Sam go by with a blackened sleeve and a reddened face.

"What's that?" Dean laughed just a little and pointed at the burnt fabric.

"Don't ask." Sam mumbled and strode out of the room to go do what he's good at, researching for a new case.

...

"Hey Sam?" Dean peeked his head into Sam's bedroom about an hour later, where he was at his desk clacking away at his computer.

"Hmm?" Sam kept rapidly typing.

"Can you take the boys down to the grocery store?"

Sam stopped typing and looked up at him. "Really, Dean? I still don't trust them."

Dean locked his jaw a little and also clenched his hands. "Sam, please. Just take them to the damn store. Me and Cas seriously need to talk."

Sam ran a hand down his face. "Dean-"

"It'd be a bonding experience for both of you guys. Come on." Dean drummed his fingers along the doorpost.

"Cute." Sam rolled his eyes. He stood up from his chair. He saw Dean's pleading eyes, the same as his son's, and Sam huffed and crossed his arms. "..._Fine_." He huffed. "But that means I get to buy whatever I want for the groceries."

Dean extended a credit card. "Knock yourself out. But just saying, those two love junk food."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Alright. How long do you want me to be out of your hair for?"

Dean took a second to think. "Around an hour should be fine. I owe you one, Sammy." He was about to leave when he popped back in again. "And Sam? Just...go easy on 'em, okay?"

Sam grunted in response and kept clacking at his computer keys. It wasn't even so much that he disliked the boys, he hated to admit it but it was almost like he was _afraid_ of them.

...

"Hey, can we get Oreos?" Leo turned to Sam and shook the blue and black package a little. Robbie was further down the isle looking at the tubs of ice cream.

Sam figured they'd have awful diets with a dad like Dean.

"Uh, sure." Sam said absent-mindedly, thinking about other things than junk food. He was out shopping with _Dean's friggin kids_ who were at most just sixteen years younger than him. Not to mention they were part angel. And monster. And they'd come from some strange dimension among the trillions that were supposed to exist. Sam's mind reeled a little.

"How did you do it?" Sam asked Leo quietly. "How did you two get here anyway?"

The kid screwed up his face, plopping the cookies into the shopping cart with a plasticy rustle. "It was hard. Full angels can travel through dimensions easily, but for us it was harder. We found the right Dean out of the trillions by matching the soul to the one that had concieved us. And...the flying was a bitch."

Leo sighed and ran a hand through his hair and he lowered his voice a little. "When we knew we were here, Robbie kind of just- gave up. Wore out. So the landing was less than graceful. So we tried to sense either of you nearby, you were closer, so we flew to you first. We forgot you wouldn't know who we were." Leo shoved his hands in his pockets as he avoided Sam's gaze and looked at the aisle of food instead.

"I know you don't like who we are. It's okay. Dad didn't like us either at first, when he first found out what we were going to become." Leo hugged his arms together, rubbing his lower arm absent-mindedly. Sam noticed his arms, his flannel sleeves pushed up past his elbows, were riddled with pink and white scars, holes in curved lines like bite marks, from when Robbie had attacked him after Dean had shot and triggered him. One arm had strange, black tattoos with stamped, angular numbers and tiny x's. Sam found it strange he'd never noticed that before.

"Things used to be much worse, Uncle Sammy." Leo said under his breath, dragging his thumb along a curve of punctured scars, no doubt made from the teeth of a very large animal. "You might not be happy with us. But this is as good as its gonna get for me and RJ, so _I'm_ happy."

Sam was speechless as the tallish kid began to amble down the aisle to meet with his brother. He had so many questions for them that he didn't really know how to ask. He knew deep down they had to be his brother's kids, but he still felt better denying it. Truthfully, he felt hurt that so many years of Dean's life he'd never know about, when they went through everything together.

He was drawn out of his thoughts by a loud scream.

He saw Robbie bolt from the aisle quickly to the source of the noise, quickly followed by Leo, their arms and legs pumping as they suddenly sprinted from Sam's view. Crap, Dean would kill him if anything happened to them.

He ditched the cart and whipped his head down every isle to find them, he finally saw a body laying hunched on its side with a dark pool of blood already seeping to the floor. A young woman was unconscious, her face pale and blood blooming from her neck with the partially healed mark of what Sam knew to be a vamp bite.

Sam sprinted closer, realizing there was so much blood because they'd already beheaded the vamp, who oddly enough looked over high school age. The woman looked mid-thirties, her back slumped among the cereal boxes. Everything smelled like iron.

Sam whipped his head up when he heard a wet rasping. His eyes widened as he saw Robbie, barely keeping his balance as he held a bloodied sliver blade in one hand and red was dripping from his nostrils as he panted, clutching his arm with another signature vamp bite, this was was not partially healed and dribbled scarlet down his arm.

He had _wings_. They were folded limply at his sides, the feathers mussed and somewhat dirty, but Sam was very surprised to find that they were _gold_. The arches of his wings rose and fell slightly as his ribcage flared in and out.

Leo caught his brother just in time as his knees buckled. "Uncle Sammy," The kid barked out, lifting his head and piercing him with his blue gaze. "C'mon. We have to get out of here."

A public vamp attack? In broad daylight, in a store with security cameras? And why was the vampire boy so young?

"Sam. Your jacket." Leo said again, snapping Sam out of his thoughts. "He's too weak to hide them for now. Hurry."

Sam shrugged off his overcoat and helped wrap it around Robbie's shoulders, hiding his golden wings underneath as he took one arm to hoist him up and Leo took the other. Robbie wheezed as he was rushed towards the emergency exit.

"Come on. Almost to the car," Leo said through gritted teeth, as he and Sam kept pushing onward.

"It's..it's different.." Robbie panted as he stumbled along, a tight grip on Sam's coat as he held it closed to his chest. His eyelids were fluttering.

"Shh. I know." Leo answered, whipping his head to look for anyone as he pushed out the emergency exit, quickly followed by Sam. Leo didn't like it, but things were different here, they had even less power than they'd ever. Flying, pulling out a blade, mind-reading, everything was so much harder to do than before. He'd collapsed himself flying the two of them to Sam when they'd first arrived, and Robbie had done too many things at once. Not to mention being bitten too.

Sam was gripping the steering wheel tightly as he sped down the road, looking back at Robbie in concern. "Why did this happen to him?" Sam asked.

Leo's hands were jittering along his knees, checking the backseat obsessively as Robbie groaned in the back seat, using Sam's jacket as a pillow as he tried to rest.

"I-I'm not sure." Leo frowned, once again smoothing his thumb over the scars of his arms, a nervous habit, Sam figured. "I think it has to do with our...uh, composition. Dad's human again, so we're probably more human than before too." He sighed. "Things are so...different here."

Sam felt a little bit bad at how he'd treated them. Leo cleared his throat a little and spoke up, changing the subject.

"It must have been a fresh blood who couldn't control himself. The creator must be targeting high school kids for new recruits." Leo said, looking out the window. Sam could have sworn he was seeing the back of Dean's head when he was that age, just his hair was a little lighter.

"I did read something about weird things going on at the local high school." Sam spoke up, feeling like the awkwardness in the air was so thick he could cut it with a knife. Leo just kept staring out the window as the trees whipped by.

Sam's curiosity was killing him. Both of them were so mysterious, but not in the good way. More in the keep-your-guard-up kind of way. "What are those scars from? The bites on your arms?" He asked, sounding much less confident than he'd planned.

Leo bowed his head and shook it. "Doesn't matter."

"Is that how you got turned? Are they from a skinwalker?" Sam asked, and Leo sighed a little. He missed the old Sam, the one who he grew up with, the constant presence in his life.

"No," He answered. "Me 'n him were born with it. Everything."

There was a very long pause only filled with the engine rumbling.

"I'm sorry." Sam said, he wasn't quite sure what he was apologizing for.

"Don't be." Leo's hands curled into fists. "I like who I am. I don't really care about being normal. I know I'm a freak but I don't care."

Sam thought about himself. When he'd found out about Azazel's Children, when he'd been drinking demon blood, when he felt like nothing but a freak.

"Drinking the blood wasn't your fault. Even if you think it is." Leo interrupted his thoughts. "You were only trying to do the right thing. You didn't know."

"How do you know about that?" Sam asked sharply, going on the defensive again.

"You're practically like my dad. Cas was..Cas couldn't be there for us when we were little, but _you_ were. I know you're freaked out by the fact that you weren't a part of Dad's life for twenty years, but you really were. You were there the whole time. Dean wouldn't do that to you, Uncle Sammy. He'd never leave you behind." Leo finally smiled just a little, hugging his arms together.

Sam felt just a little bit better.

It still was going to take some getting used to, that he was an Uncle now. He looked at Robbie in the backseat, blood staining his hands as his head lolled a little over a bump. Leo was still smiling a little as he kept his eyes glued to the window. The little shit knew he got him.


	8. The Wayward Hunt

Thank you for the review jojospn! I just couldn't resist; so here is a wayward case with a lot of angst :) I will update soon, I hope! Thanks for your support readers!

* * *

"What the hell?" Dean asked as Sam stumbled back into the bunker, holding his jacket over Robbie's shoulders as Leo stumbled in after him. He saw the blood smeared on Sam's jacket, and instantly went into his protective mode.

"What happened?" He demanded, taking Robbie's shoulders and holding him square in front of him.

"I'm _fine_." Robbie insisted, rolling his eyes a little. "We had a run-in with a freshblood vamp, I used some of my powers and it drained me. It's nothing."

Dean frowned at him. "You have to be careful." He scolded.

"Seriously, dad, I'm good." Robbie assured him. "I just think something's different here, like grace doesn't work the same or we're more human now. I don't know." He shrugged the heavy duty jacket from his shoulders, which were now wingless.

"I could use a beer." He sighed on exhale.

"You just turned nineteen." Dean warned. Sam covered his hand to stop from laughing.

"And...?" Robbie gave him a devilish little smirk and in a few moments was clattering through the fridge, glass clinking on glass loudly. "Hey, Lee, you want one?"

"Somehow I'm not surprised." Sam poked at Dean, who mimed him back childishly and crossed his arms. "So, what about this vamp?"

"He was a freshblood, who didn't know how to control himself. He looked of high school age." Sam tried to think of more details. "He bled a lot, which must have meant he'd been turned recently."

"So, any idea where the nest could be?" Dean asked, watching as the two boys clinked beers and shuffled off to he somewhere else in the house. Dean was crossing his arms, his feet shoulder-length apart, a tiny smile on his face as he watched them go.

Sam turned to Dean with a puzzled look on his face. "You're kind of creeping me out with this whole 'dad' thing." He said with a small huff for a laugh.

"Hey. I had the perfect prep raising you." Dean still had a kind of faraway look in his eyes as his lips were pulled into the tiniest of smiles.

There was a small silence before Sam finally realized what he thought was strange.

"Where's Cas?" Sam asked innocently.

"I told you. We talked. He's going up to heaven, he said something about protecting them from Nephilim Laws. He wants to make sure he covers all the tracks." Dean sighed a little. "He was upset. He thought he'd never be as good as the boys' real father. It's ridiculous, of course. I think he gets it now, though. It's always going to be him." Sam pretended like he didn't see the (very fresh, apparently) hickey that was a small bloom of reddish-pink by his collarbone.

"I don't think it's ridiculous." Sam piped up. "I didn't like the idea of you spending twenty years without me either. Then Leo told me that I was there the whole time, and I guess I felt better about it." He shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"You ol' baby." Dean chuckled. "C'mon. Let's get started on finding the nest." He patted him on the shoulder and went to open the computer.

...

"You sure this is the place?" Dean asked as the rumble of the car engine cut off outside.

Sam looked at the large warehouse and nodded. "There's been all kinds of weird things going on here, from what I could research. People always going in at the dead of night, screams from within, black smoke. Even if it's not the nest, it's worth checking out."

Dean nodded an climbed out of the car, flicking his arm down and then frowning when nothing happened. Sam tipped his head to the side and furrowed his brows. "Dean?"

"Ah, dammit. Sometimes I forget." He mumbled in embarassment, flushing a little pink.

"You?" Sam voiced in disbelief. "You're telling me you were an _angel_?"

Dean frowned and stared at his empty palm. "We both were. Wasn't exactly the best of circumstances, but yeah. At least we got through it together."

Sam was looking at Dean with a soft expression that Dean couldn't quite place. He rubbed his palm with his other hand, still a little embarrassed at his fault. "C'mon, boys." He mumbled, as they set off toward the building.

Once they'd snuck inside, it was pretty apparent that this wasn't a vampire nest at all. Blood, crusty and old, was spattered on a wall. The placed reeked of something evil. There was a dusty shelf that seemed to be lined with hexbags.

Sam came closer to examine the hex bags with his flashlight. Maybe this was a witch's lair? But typically they enjoyed splendor, they wouldn't hole themselves up in a place like this.

Bones stuck out from the tops of the bags. Photos.

"Dean. These aren't hex bags, they're crossrroad-" Sam started, but he was interrupted by a piercing scream. A door slammed shut, and Leo was gone.

Sam realized immediately what this was. A crossroad demon's lair on Earth. People must have been coming to the demon to make deals here instead of the other way around.

"Robbie, don't-" Dean demanded, but the kid had vanished already to pass the heavy iron door separting the two of them. Dean was pounding hard on the door.

"Open this! Open this now!" He was calling out, banging. Robbie tried, but it was being held firmly shut.

Robbie could hear Sam and Dean trying to pound down the door outside, and he then turned to Leo. He felt his stomach twist uncomfortably.

Robbie's blade dipped into his palm. The dull banging was ceaseless.

"You're not my brother." Robbie growled, his hand tightly gripped to his blade.

Leo looked up, his eyes glittering a poisonous red in the light. A very uncharacteristic sneer was stretched on his freckled face. "Oh, well well! We've got a genius on our hands." The demon spat. "It was quite easy. I just took a knife and filleted that stupid tattoo straight off his chest. He didn't even scream. But this is what you get for trying to hunt me in my own home."

Robbie felt rage bubbling deep in his chest. "_Exorcizamus te, omnis_-"

"Ah, ah, ah!" The demon chuckled, waggling a finger at Robbie. "You chant, and I stab." Robbie noticed Leo's bright silver blade was twinkling in his hand. "Oh, this body is incredibly fun. This mind..this mind is so dark, much more fun to explore than any of the other humans that I claim the souls of." Leo purred, his red eyes narrowed and flashing.

Robbie didn't know what to do as the demon pointed the angel blade at his brother's body.

"So many secrets. He's still afraid of you, you know." The demon played with the tip of the blade nonchalantly, spinning it into his own ribs. "He's still never quite gotten over when you, oh, I don't know, _mauled_ him?"

"It was an accident." Robbie growled, he felt his throat getting tight as tears sprang to his eyes. How was he supposed to get out of this now? "I'd never hurt him."

The demon tutted. "Oh, but you _did_. And even before that, oh, everything is so delightfully dark. The things they forced him to do in training, all the murder, all the guilt in this tiny little brain of his..."

Robbie's breath caught in his throat. "That's not true." His hand balled into fists, his knuckles whitening along his blade. "He would tell me that. He would tell me."

The demon poked Leo's blade into his ribs a little, blood beginning to bloom out like red ink. "You wish to save your poor, innocent brother? Let's make a deal, big boy. Business isn't like it used to be."

"Leo! Leo, goddammit, fight him!" Robbie was conflicted about wanting to tear the demon's head off, because currently that head was his twin brother's.

"Sorry, hun, I got a tight hold going here. Oh, this is juicy! He wasn't only training and murdering people, no no. There were demon blood injections. So many...I fail to understand how you never saw his track marks- "

The red eyes vanished. That bottle-blue color took over, the blonde-haired kid grimaced, grabbed his blade with two hands and stabbed himself just below the ribs without a second of hesitation.

"Leoniel!" Robbie screamed, running forward and catching him as he started to fall. His body was flickering with an orange-yellow light, shadows of his bones could be seen. Grace was streaming out of his wound, and as Robbie placed his hand on it, the wound began to crumble.

The skin around his ribs was ashy and flaky, caving in on his body. He saw a white rib poke out as the grey spread, smouldering, like Leo was going to disappear into a mound of ash like a phoenix. But maybe he wouldn't rise up from those ashes like a full-fledged creature would.

Leo squinted into his face, a tiny smile on his lips as Robbie desperately tried to heal him. There were two bleach-white ribs poking out now from the rapidly expanding ash. "RJ. I ganked him." Leo said in the tiniest voice, smiling like he'd won the student of the week award in class.

"Shut up. Shut the fuck up, Leo." Robbie didn't realize that tears were streaming down his face. "Don't you fucking leave me. You better not die or I'll kill you." The ashes had stopped their advance, but he looked bad. White beams of grace shot from the wound, as Robbie tucked him into his arms. "Don't you die on me, asshole."

He flew as far as his much less functional wings could take him, landing in a heap next to Sam and Dean outside the heavy iron door, and they both looked on with disbelief.

"He-he stabbed himself." Robbie was barely able to form words. The world sounded like it was underwater, and his vision began to swirl. He steadied himself with his palm to the wall, breathing hard.

Dean managed to slip his arms underneath the kid and was hurrying back to the car without a word.

Sam didn't so much as look at Robbie.

_They heard everything. _

_Sam knows what those bite scars on his arms are from now. _

Robbie felt completely numb as he followed without much thought.

_My brother's still afraid of me. _

"I got him." Leo said hoarsely to Dean. His side had stopped burning and crumbling to ash, but grey powder was trailing Dean like snow. The air smelled like burnt hair and burnt flesh. "Dad, I got 'im."

...

Robbie stood by the doorway of the bedroom as he watched Dean cradle Leo gently, the kid was resting his head on the side of his dad's chest as Dean had a hand securely pressed to his shoulder, holding him in place. Robbie saw the gigantic wrapping of white gauze around his midsection. He looked like a toddler again, almost.

Dean was mumbling something to him, which Robbie only caught something that sounded like "not anymore?" He saw his head of honey-blond hair nod, his eyes shut tight. Sam was in the room too, he looked extremely uncomfortable as he answered a few of the kid's questions.

Everyone was mumbling. The hushed voices rolled against the heavy silence, making Robbie feel all prickly and awkward. Sam and Dean discussed how they should have known crossroads demons would have temporary lairs on earth, because it would take too long to summon them from hell. Dean tried to console his son, saying he'd heal back up soon, even though Leo was now terrified of dissolving into a crumbling pile of ash when he died. Even nineteen years later, they were still being hi with surprises.

"You're okay?" Robbie heard Dean ask quietly, gently pushing a small piece of light blonde hair from his forehead with his thumb. Again, Leo had his eyes shut tight as he nodded just a little, and Dean helped him from his lap.

"Careful," Dean said gruffly, trying not to touch his side where that had basically smoldered into pit of ash. Robbie shuddered just thinking about the gaping hole in his side that would probably have to be healed by himself. Leo was pushed gently back to be laying down, he tugged the blankets up a little more to cover his chest and obscure the wrappings.

Dean didn't have to hear his son's thoughts to know Robbie wanted to talk to him alone. Sam and Dean filed out of the room, Dean ruffled his pitch hair and Sam gave him a little double pat on the back.

Robbie stared at him for a second before stepping in the room. He had dark circles under his blue eyes, and his face was pale with a somewhat yellow, wan look to it, his lips quite dry. His fingers were curled tightly over the blankets, he blinked blearily as his brother came into the room.

"You look like shit." Robbie said as he finally took a step forward, carrying a bowl of soup with him. Robbie couldn't avoid the pressing matter that he'd actually had a hell of a lot of demon blood pumped through his system. He felt sick.

"I feel like it too." Leo answered, smiling meekly. "Thanks. I was getting kinda hungry. Hopefully the soup won't slosh of out my ribcage like all those skeletons in the movies do."

"You're awful." Robbie smiled painfully and set the tray down on his lap.

"I know." Leo's blue eyes were still smiling, even though his face looked completely exhausted.

A second of tense silence passed.

"You know you're going to have to tell me sooner or later, right?" Robbie said on exhale.

Leo's lips pressed into a frown. "It...they messed with me, okay? They...they..." He lowered his blue eyes to the blankets in front of his chin.

"Three times a week. They were trying to make me stronger, because I was falling behind, without them I would have died, and I...I began to actually _like_-" His voice cut off abruptly. He took a second to collect himself before he spoke again.

"You wouldn't understand. You just can't understand." He mumbled, tears dribbling easily from his eyes now.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Robbie asked in a strained voice, he felt like he was the one who'd been stabbed instead.

"What, there's things you haven't told me? What would a demon yank out of your head to tell me, huh?" Leo shot back. "You were never supposed to find out! Not like this!" His soup rippled in his lap.

"It wasn't your fault, though!" Robbie felt his insides squirming at the thought of his brother with demon blood in him. "What...what did it do to you?" His voice was tight and scared.

"Made me stronger. Kept me from dying. Remember when I was rescued.." He hid his face in his hands and choked out a sob. "...it wasn't because I was sick. It was withdrawal."

"Do you still...?" Robbie asked uncertainly. _Crave it? _

"Not as much anymore." He shut his eyes. He sighed a little, and there was a long silence.

"I want you to leave." Leo said unemotionally.

"Lee..." Robbie felt that awful feeling in the pit of his stomach again.

"Please." Leo replied, his eyes closing heavily. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"I'm just- I just don't know what to do, okay?" Robbie let himself be completely honest. "I...I don't even know what to think right now."

Leo only kept his eyes closed, stubbornly making no move to touch his soup anymore. He didn't move a muscle.

Robbie finally took the soup away and put it on the nightstand, letting out another sigh.

"I just wanted to tell you that I don't care. You're my brother, and...I'll always stick with you. No matter what." Robbie smiled a little. He set the bowl down with a tiny clink.

"You're such a pussy." Leo sniffled, bringing the blanket up to just under his nose. "I hate you." He mumbled into the covers.

"I hate you too. With the intensity of a thousand suns." Robbie laughed.

"You suck." Leo mumbled. "Now go away. I'm sleepy."

Robbie chuckled and made his way to the door. "Want me to close this?" He asked softly.

"Mmhm." Leo was obviously very tired.

Robbie swung it to close, but was still standing in the small space left. "I don't hate you, you know."

"I know." He smiled just a little under his blanket, and Robbie could tell because of the tiny crinkling of his eyes.

Robbie closed the door.


	9. Midnight Prayers

Thank you for reviewing jojospn and VioletErin.26 :) It makes me very happy to see people reading this story! Thanks for the little pieces of feedback! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

"Alright. Let's see it." Dean grunted, taking the edge of the gauze and gently peeling it away strip by strip. "Geez. I didn't think something like this would happen to you."

Leo screwed up his face. "And you think I did? I haven't exactly stabbed myself in the stomach before either."

Dean looked at the hole in his side, resembling a log that fire had chewed through. He still hadn't healed all the way, but instead of raw and jagged skin he was all light grey charcoal and smooth, burnt ridges. "Jesus." Dean breathed.

Leo's eyes widened. "Is it bad?" He asked nervously. "Dad, does it look bad?"

Dean closed his eyes and shook his head a little. "Leo, I..I don't know. I don't know nearly enough about phoenixes to tell you."

Leo frowned, gripping his hands together tightly. "Don't look at _me_! Just because I am one doesn't mean I know anything about it," He grumbled.

"God, Leo." Dean gently felt his skin, which felt like the soft, powdery texture of charcoal. The kid took in a sharp breath and grimaced. "Oh, honey." Dean breathed again.

"Dad, this whole thing is really freaking me out too, so I'd really appreciate it if you don't say that kinda stuff." Leo pressed his lips together.

He looked down at his stomach and sighed. "We didn't exactly come with an instruction manual, did we?" He asked, a little quieter this time.

"Hey. We'll know everything there is to know in time. There's only so much that can happen, right?" Dean scrutinized the wound, not quite sure how to dress it. Should he clean it? Could he? He didn't want to mess things up. A second of silence passed, Leo biting his lip, before he finally spoke up.

"Dad?" Leo asked in a young voice. "When I die..what if I wind up in Purgatory with all the other monsters?"

"You won't." Dean shot back with no hesitation. "I promise. You're too good for that."

"How do you know that for sure? What if I do?" He egged on again, his deep blue eyes wide and afraid. "What if, Dad?"

"You know I'd tear up the whole place up looking for you, then. Me and Cas and Sam, even. I'd never let you spend a minute in that place if I could help it." Dean answered, gingerly touching one of the less damaged areas on his side. Leo hissed in pain, closing his eyes tight. "Hurts."

"You're one tough nugget, Leo baby." Dean smiled.

"I'm taller than you and RJ now and that nickname's dumb." He pouted. "Dad, 'm hungry."

"Want to join us for dinner outside?" Dean asked, chuckling, starting to patch up the wound again. He'd do some more research tonight on what to do to it, and maybe Sam would help. Leo silently nodded, and Dean reached over to gently help lift him to slide off the bed, careful not to touch his injured side.

"What you said in there..how much of it was true?" Dean blurted just as Leo swung his lanky legs off the edge of the bed. Leo grimaced and scrubbed the back of his head.

"It was true, just...she'd twisted it a little." He replied insecurely, staring down at the ground.

"Your brother's been moping around all day, you know." Dean admitted. "You know it was an accident, when he attacked you."

"I know." Leo sighed. "I just worry about him. If the cure's gonna wear off or break or..I don't know. I don't _want_ to be scared of him still, I just..am." He took Dean's silently offered arm and straightened up. "Please don't tell him."

"I won't." Dean answered, hovering as Leo took a few steps. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Leo answered. "Just hungry."

"God, you remind me of Sammy at your age. You're probably still at that stage where you're eating five gallons of cheez-whiz a day, huh?" Dean chuckled.

"C'mon, Dad." Leo rolled his eyes, grinning. "It's at least ten."

...

Dean didn't like how his sons were reacting to each other at dinner, avoiding each other's eyes and keeping their heads bowed as they silently ate their dinner, Sam still clacking away at the keyboard and explaining how he thought the freshbloods had to be coming from the nearby high school. Dean asked if they should go in as PE teachers and janitors again, but Sam flicked his eyes toward the boys.

"It would be so much easier to solve if we could send them as students." Sam suggested. "Just saying. They could register as seniors."

Dean frowned. He knew how much they'd hated high school especially, in Elementary it had been a problem with bullying, but when they finally got into high school it had turned into complete shunning. Dean dismissed him and said he'd ask them if they were willing later, but he felt bad having to make them go through school again once they'd finally been out.

Dinner ended, and everyone went to bed except Dean. He had helped Leo back to his room, but Robbie was nowhere to be seen. They didn't sleep in the same room that night, and Dean felt a little ache in his chest thinking about that. They almost never would purposely separate themselves like that.

He missed Cas already. He sat at the dining room table well after dinner was over and everyone had gone to bed, lacing his fingers together.

_Hi, Cas. I miss you_. Dean shot out a prayer in his head. _I hope you're okay_.

He wondered how images with prayers worked. Dean smirked, chuckled and then tried to stifle his laughter as he imagined what would happen if he sent a particularly raunchy prayer his way. He imagined his eyes widening, his shoulders perking up, a blush spreading fast on his cheeks.

Dean closed his eyes and thought, conjuring up memories. He saw a dark curl of hair, damp with sweat, curled sweetly over the nape of his pale neck after a particularly long and wonderful session of lovemaking. Dean remembered kissing that little curl, wrapping his arms around the angel, sliding his palms up from his belly to his chest, knowing exactly where to put his hands so he could feel the heat from the twin's tiny nodules of graces growing inside him.

_Dean_...Dean heard the angel say in his head, a warning tone in his voice.

Dean shot him another memory, a sweeter one this time. When he'd come home from a long day of work, and he saw his husband and his little boys running around Cas's legs with ill-fitting aprons tied around their waists and flour on their cheeks as they tried to make a good dinner to celebrate Dean's promotion, whisking ingredients for a pie crust, eggshells everywhere, the electric mixer whirring away, pasta bubbling in a pot on the stove.

Dean knew somewhere, Cas was smiling. But still, he got no response.

_Alright, Cas. _Dean felt like he was a flirty teenager again. _You asked for it. I'm bringing out the big guns._

He sent another little memory his way; his honeymoon with the angel, after they'd officially gotten 'human' married. Sam agreed to look after the boys for a week and Dean and Cas went to have a fishing trip, staying in a cozy little cabin for the week. Dean gave tiny snapshots of the weekend; the look on Cas's face as Dean pushed into him, his hair all mussed already, his lips swollen and shiny from the kissing. Fuck harder, he had been saying. Dean, Dean, I love you...his eyes had rolled back into his head. _Dean_, he was screaming.

The sheets were tangled around their legs as Dean held Cas tight, he still had a kind of blissfull look on his face as he rested for a little while, letting himself melt into Dean's arms, leaning into his chest. Dean took his hand and kissed his ring. _We're married now._ Dean had said simply. _Still, I feel like it's just a silly old ring. We already knew a long time ago, huh? _Cas had turned to him, his eyes bright and lustful.

_But I'm your human husband now too, Dean. _He'd said with a warm smile. Dean returned it and kissed his nose. _That's right, sweetheart._ Cas then pressed his lips tenderly to Dean's, piecing himself by his side.

_Did you see that fishing dinosaur magnet down at the souvenir shop_? He asked quietly, his eyes closing as he let his body relax.

_Yeah_. _Bobby would love that._ Dean smiled. _You noticed too. _

A cozy second passed, and Dean cradled him close.

_I miss them_. Dean blurted. _I mean...we don't need a whole week, right? _

Dean laughed when he thought about how they'd cut their honeymoon short because they missed the kids so much. What was supposed to be seven days was only three. There was just something nicer about being in the comfort of their own home, trying to keep quiet as the sheets rustled and their kisses sounded much louder than they really were, whispering 'I love you's and 'Don't let the kids hear!'s into the darkness, waking up with their bodies entwined as sunlight filtered into the bedroom, maybe feeling a little hand curl around an ankle or a toe that was sticking out of the covers, the kids running in to wake them up.

_Dean! _Cas's returning voice was embarrassed and surprised. _Don't do that! _

_Sorry, baby_. Dean laughed into his hands. _But I got you talking, didn't I? That's an oxymoron for you, huh? Dirty prayers? _Dean chuckled into his hands again as he pictured Cas beet red in the face in heaven.

_I'm not making much progress here, Dean._ Cas's voice came back to him, it sounded small and worried. _They are not on heaven's radar as of now, and I am trying to infiltrate the process so the information gets lost in translation. But..._

Dean clasped his hands together tightly. He knew that tone. Some bad information was coming up, he just knew it.

_If they find out about them, they will kill them. They already think a human and angel mix is dangerous. They are considered...lethal_. His voice seemed very worried.

_Keep trying, Cas._ Dean was shocked as he stared at the table in front of him. _Just keep trying. _

_I will, Dean_. The angel replied, but somehow Dean could tell this wouldn't be the end of their conversation. After a few seconds, Cas spoke up again. _I...I liked the memory of us making the dinner for you the most. _

Dean smiled and closed his eyes, feeling a nice warmth inflate his chest. _I knew you would. Be careful, sweetheart. _

_Goodbye, Dean. _

Dean finally felt settled down enough to click off the lights and crawl underneath his covers, leaving one side of the bed empty for Cas just as a force of habit.


	10. The Confession

Hello! Thank you for your reviews Frozeninspace, jojospn, and VioletErin.26 :) I have no idea how long this story is going to be, but all I know is that I want to make it long enough to tie off everything and give these little guys a much-needed happy ending. So thanks so much for sticking with this story! And your reviews are total motivation and I really appreciate them :)

On with the story!

* * *

"Hey, Dean?" Sam spoke up, and he swiveled his computer to show Dean a sort of woodblock artwork of a man, looking up to the sky, his arms fists at his sides, with with white smoking eyes and spread red wings with a hole right through the middle of his stomach, with soft and charred edges. "It says here that phoenixes can begin the process of turning into regeneration ash after an injury that's not fatal. I think he'll heal faster if he spends a lot of time in the fire."

"Thanks, Sam." Dean said, glancing at the picture and getting a very worried face as he recognized the very same injury from his son. "Is that all it says?"

"Well," Sam huffed. "It says 'Ye who beith of supernaturale bloode may lay thineself into the fyres from which ye hath been birthed, for fyre ye hath been bore, to fyre ye will return, until thine rise from the ashes in new lyfe, Mother Fyre fosters all.' So I think that might be what it's talking about."

Dean nodded. "At least that's something they like doing anyway. Playing in fires." He smiled a little. "Thanks for helping me, Sammy. I know you're still not totally used to the idea."

He avoided his eyes been nodded a little. "You're welcome. I hope he...uh, I hope he feels better soon." He said nervously, exiting out and shutting the computer.

Dean smiled. "Thanks. Me too." He stood up slowly, feeling better that Sam was helping him out, but everything still felt a little strange with him.

...

Leo pulled another log toward him and he put it on his lap, sighing and leaning his back on the sooty concrete in the back of the fireplace as orange flames curled and swayed all around him. He closed his eyes, feeling the fire gently soothing and calming him down. Now he understood why it was such a comfort when they were kids.

Unfortunately, it wasn't instantaneous. He couldn't really tell if anything was happening at all, but his side hurt a lot less as he waited in the high flames in the gigantic Men of Letters fireplace.

Leo barely heard the footsteps come into the room over the loud crackles and pops of the fire, and he was somewhat falling asleep as he held the piece of burning wood on his lap with his head resting on the concrete, his chin pointed upward as he let out a small sigh, trying to relax and let the flames heal him.

"Hey." Leo heard the unmistakeable low-yet-smooth voice of his brother. He peeked open just one blue eye and saw him sitting in front of the fireplace, criss-crossed, leaning back into his palms. He was already wearing his pajamas for the night.

"Feeling any better?" Robbie asked, and Leo finally opened both eyes and blinked at him. It was a little hard to see him through the wall of flames. Leo shrugged and slipped the log from his lap, instead digging his elbows into his thighs and cupping his face in his hands.

"I don't know." He answered. "I've been in here for the past two hours, I guess it's closed up a little." He gingerly touched the gaping hole just below his ribcage, it hurt a lot less too and had gotten slightly smaller. He looked back out to Robbie.

"Sorry for kinda being an ass to you for the past couple 'a days." Robbie said and then coughed into his fist, bowing his head. He started picking at the old carpet a little. "I'm...I'm scared of me too."

"I didn't really mean it like that. She twisted my words." Leo frowned. "I meant..I worry about you. About if the spell's going to hold up, you know?" He nervously nudged a log with his toe, a flurry of sparks spitting into the air like gnats.

"Seriously." Robbie almost growled, he suddenly looked a little pale as he continued to pick at the carpet. He looked extremely worried, and Leo could tell there was something he wasn't telling him. Robbie cleared his throat. "So. School tomorrow."

Leo groaned. "Ugh. Don't remind me." He finally grinned a little.

"Sure you'll be, you know, _okay_ with that huge burnt hole in ya?" Robbie finally chuckled a little. "I can't believe you just _did_ that, man. Gank that demon like that. You're crazy."

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Leo nodded, touching his side gingerly again.

" 'Cuz I could probably deal with the freshbloods myself, you know." Robbie shrugged.

"I'm _fine_, man." Leo chuckled. Robbie sometimes had such a hard time with expressing himself. "I guess I'll just see you in the morning."

"G'night." Robbie crawled up to stand again. "Just heal up, kay?"

"Night." Leo chuckled, taking another fresh log from next to the fire and placing it in his lap, shutting his eyes and going to sleep.

* * *

Blue eyes staring into nothingness. Red blood. The taste of iron and red coating hands like clear gloves. A huge, red hole in between the corpse's ribcage; a missing heart.

A full stomach.

This nightmare haunted him every time he was upset, the nightmare that was actually a memory.

"Oh my god-" Robbie felt the corpse's pulse on her white-as-paper wrist with trembling, bloody hands. Absolutely nothing. Her dull blue eyes stared blankly up at the dark city sky, light blonde hair pooling around her head, a surprised frown frozen on her face. "Oh my god- oh god.." He was shaking like a leaf as he pressed his hands over her chest, blood smearing with awful squelches. He shot out blinding healing energy, but nothing worked.

She was _dead_.

He heard a loud scream, and his head whipped to the source of the noise. Someone was pointing at him and screaming.

Robbie suddenly realized what it looked like. He was leaning over this body, blood dripping from his lips and on his chin, all over his hands, pale and naked as he was curled over this corpse with a gaping hole in its chest.

Robbie gasped like a drowning person coming up for water and shot up in bed, his skin clammy and misted with sweat. He hid his face in his hands and rattled out a few breaths into the dark, trembling a little as he tried to think of something else. Out of habit, he glanced over to the bed opposite his, but it was empty. Of course. His brother would be spending the night in the fireplace trying to get better tonight.

It had happened three months after Leo was kidnapped by Heaven, and Robbie had wandered a long, long ways away from their home in Kansas, living as a wolf and barely being in control of anything because he just wanted to escape the pain. He didn't remember doing it, only the aftermath. But he knew that, even though he'd grown up on cow and chicken and fish hearts, he'd tasted human flesh just once.

He had never told anyone, and was fine with it that way. But now he worried all the time if because of what he did, if he would really be cured forever. Or if now he was tainted because he'd had a taste of human flesh. Because he was a murderer.

He forced himself out of bed, and he tried to stop his legs from shaking as he stood up. He _had_ to tell someone after four years of keeping it bottled up inside.

Dean was once again sitting in the kitchen late at night, he couldn't sleep very well lately, not with everything going on. He stayed awake to look over Leo as he slept soundly in the fireplace, occasionally going over just to check on him or add a few more logs, as the kid would groan and hug the piece of wood like it was a teddy bear, his face covered in soot.

Dean took another little sip of his beer, just getting lost in thought as he tapped his knuckles on the wood of the table, trying to just think and feel a little calmer.

He reached for his phone as he heard a small 'bing', indicating that he'd recieved a text message. His phone was painfully bright in the dim light but he answered it anyway, unlocking it and eyeing the notification.

_How ate the bpys?_ The message said, from Cas's cellphone. There was a small whoosh as Dean got more texts.

_That is not cirrect nor what i meant_

_im sprry phones are diffocult_

_i am worried_

Dean screwed up his face. He wondered what Cas was up to, he hadn't heard a status update since yesterday.

_Cas. Call me._ He quickly texted back, egging it on to send faster. And apparently, there was service in Heaven.

_cant. Talk in public now_. The small speech bubble came into veiw with a small sound.

Fuck. Dean knew Cas was going to heaven to get things sorted out, but now his stomach was tight with worry. What was going on?

_What the hells going on?_ Dean's fingers flew across his keyboard.

_laws for nephilim. i am not sure hiw to keep them safe. i am wprried._

_How much longer before you come home?_

_indefinite_

_Be careful._ Dean thought for a second before sending the next text. _And there's no way in hell I'm letting something happen to you before I can put a ring on that finger._

... (Typing)

... (Typing)

Dean was worried. Had he said the wrong thing? Crap. What if this wasn't Cas he was texting, if his angel was being held hostage or tortured or-

_(Bing)_

_staywith our childten. I love ypu._

Dean imagined him crying, fumbling with the difficult keyboard.

_Cas? Are you okay? _Dean frowned at the image of him alone and scared in heaven, tears leaking from his eyes as he was hunched over the phone, shoulders trembling a little.

_worried. Vwry worried_

_Come home. Come home right now. _Dean put down the phone, holding his head in his hands. There was no binging. There was only the sound of his own breathing. He felt sick with worry too.

He heard the flapping of feathers, and without even opening his eyes he threw his arms out and felt someone fill his arms, and he squeezed around the soft clothes, burying his nose in the crook of his neck. He felt arms squeeze around him too, and they stayed silent like that for a while.

"What's wrong?" Dean's voice was strained as he spoke into his shoulder. "Tell me everything."

"I don't want heaven to find out about them but I don't know how to keep them safe right now, and I don't want them to get hurt and hunted down and-" Cas started, only to be softly shushed by Dean.

"It's okay. I won't let anything happen to them. Or you." Dean tried to sound comforting.

"I never should have let you dream as the angels do, you didn't know the rules, angels can live for years without any relations with anyone and these dimensions remain undisturbed, but with you, you fell in love and had these wonderful children who came to find you and I-I'm not ready to be a father!" Cas fired out, not wanting Dean to let go of him.

"Dean, I don't know how! I can't do anything right." Cas's tears leaked down over the tracks that already existed on his cheeks. "I'm a bad father and a bad husband and.."

Dean looked at Cas, smiling just a little as he wiped a tear away with his thumb. Cas blinked up at him, silent for a second.

"Did you just say husband?" Dean smiled, smudging the tear from his other cheek.

"I'm sorry." Cas said in a small voice.

"Don't be." Dean smiled at him, cradling his face between his hands and just _looking_. He saw so much of his kids it was ridiculous.

"We're going to figure this out, okay?" Dean said quietly. "Everything's going to be okay."

"I don't want to lose them, Dean." Cas whispered. "They're my only...my only children. I love them. "

"I knew you would." Dean smiled and his hand found the back of the angel's head. Kissing him felt like the most natural thing in the world, even when he hadn't learned very much yet. And he loved the little triumphs when Cas did learn.

Dean moved his hand through his hair, working open his mouth as Cas closed his eyes, kissing back with a tenderness that made Dean's head spin.

He heard a light switch click and he grumpily pulled away.

Robbie stood in the hallway, he was wearing an ill-fitting El Camino shirt and black socks, one higher up on his calf than the other.

"Gross," Robbie joked, grinning sleepily, rubbing one of his eyes.

"Oh, shuddup." Dean rolled his eyes and gave Cas another quick smooch, much to the angel's embarrassment.

"Just getting some water, if you don't mind." Robbie yawned, shuffling into the room. "And...Dad? I..I have to talk to you. Alone."

For some reason, this made Dean nervous. Just his son's tone, his walk, everything.

"Alright." Dean nodded, swallowing a lump in his throat. "Be careful, Cas, okay?" He slid his eyes to meet blue and he nodded.

"I will do anything to protect my family." The angel rumbled, and Dean smiled.

"I know you will. Goodnight." Dean gave him another little kiss before he disappeared in a whoosh of feathers.

Robbie was filling his cup with water from the fridge, his eyes not leaving the cup.

"I've never told anyone this before." He started, his voice low and guilty, keeping his eyes downcast as black hair fell into his face. "Not even Leo."

Dean stood up from his chair and came closer. "What's the matter?" He asked cautiously, not liking that strained look on Robbie's face at all as his eyebrows tipped upward over green eyes glazed with the shininess of unshed tears, and he bit his lips together to keep them from wobbling.

"What you told Uncle Sammy. It was a lie." Robbie managed to bite out with a shaky voice.

"What are you talking about? What's a lie?" He reached out and touched Robbie's shoulder. "Bobby, what's the matter?"

He swept his light eyes downward as he stared at a spot on the floor. His voice was barely over a hush as he spoke up next. "When you...when you said we'd never hurt anyone. It's a lie."

Dean looked extremely confused as Robbie backed away, making sure his hand wasn't on his shoulder anymore. "I don't deserve this." Robbie choked out. "I should have been shot in the head too. For what I'd done. I don't deserve family or love or..or..anything."

"Tell me what happened." Dean felt his anxiety swirl deep in his chest. "Tell me."

"Remember when I ran away? When Leo was stolen, when he was in Training?" Robbie kept his eyes downcast. "I didn't know what I was doing. I spent so long in involuntary, I didn't know anything and..I woke up and there was blood all over me and a body with this gigantic gaping hole was in front of me and I know I did it I know I killed her and I really did it, I fed on human-" He cut himself off, tears streaming. "Remember, I told you I was going to be the good guy, remember? I broke my promise, I killed an innocent person and ripped her open like an animal and..and.."

Dean gripped him tightly into a secure embrace, fighting that feeling of repulsion that was stirring at the bottom of his stomach. "It wasn't your fault."

Robbie was quickly breaking down, slumping into Dean's arms as he had his arms pinned to his chest. "Please..please, don't tell them." He managed to choke out. "Don't tell them. Please don't tell Leo and Cas."

"I still love you. I always will." Dean said gruffly. "I was the one who blended cow hearts to put in your formula and slipped diced pieces into your magic soup for years and years. I've accepted that was who you were, but none of that matters anymore."

"It was _human_!" Robbie sobbed. "That has to mean something. Like a vampire feeding for the first time and there's no going back. What if the cure breaks? What am I supposed to do then?" He buried his face in Dean's soft clothes. "_What am I supposed to do?"_

Dean was silent for a long time as he held him close, sometimes rubbing his hand slowly up and down his back or kissing his hair, even swaying a little. It didn't seem to help.

"I've never told anyone...not even..not even.." Robbie was whimpering, choking back a sob as letting Dean clamp him close.

_He's no different than the monsters you've hunted all your life._

_No! That's not true! _

Dean's mind was playing tug-o-war with itself. His stomach pinched uncomfortably. What if he was right?

He smoothed down the back of his son's hair. "Think you're going to tell him?" He asked softly.

"I have to." Robbie mumbled shakily. "He's my brother."

"Thank you for telling me." Dean's voiced hummed deep in his chest, his voice almost emotionless.

_He is different. He can't help what he is. You've already cured him, Dean, for **good**_.

Dean couldn't help but wonder if what Robbie said was right; if the fact he'd sunk his teeth into a human heart meant there was no going back. He prayed to God not.


	11. It's Not Easy Being Teen

Thanks for following, favoriting, reviewing or even just reading :) Jojospn, thank you so much! I really appreciate the support :) Thanks for the reviews doctor-who-addiction!

On with the story! I'm hoping to see this through until the end.

* * *

They had creeped in like the night. Or at least, that's what the very overly dramatic gossip girl of the senior class described the new boys in the grade like. A lot of the students thought that was the dumbest thing they've ever heard.

Well, that was until they met them.

There was something very brooding about them, there was no doubt about that. One of them was tall- probably six two or three already, and he had a kind face with short hair that had a semi-tousled look to it, with the occasional fluffy spike of honey-colored hair. He these deep bottle-blue eyes that gave him some unexplained air of intelligence, yet innocence at the same time.

Although he looked approachable enough, there were things about Leo that everyone would stare at, but never dare question. Like when one of the girls had spied a heavy wrapping of gauze around his midsection one time his shirt had raised a little bit as he reached for something, or why he had those strange tattoos of numbers and symbols and x's, or why he had scars on his arms that made it look like he'd been a pitbull's chew toy as a baby.

His brother, (everyone knew they were brothers the way they stuck together and didn't talk to much of anyone else), was little shorter than the blond. However, he was strong-looking, like a single punch from him could knock a fully grown man out cold. He had peridot green eyes that flitted from each student's face, searching and observing with the unpleasant feeling like he was looking right into them, a dark eyebrow sometimes lifting in a devilish arc as he silently challenged someone who gave him a strange look. He had a clear-cut jaw and jet black hair, which was tousled and pushed back, whereas the blonde's wasn't long enough to do anything but stick up messily. He wore a broken-in brown leather jacket and everyone whispered that he carried a gun and knife to school everyday.

They actually both had tattoos, people soon found out. They never saw more than a few black flames from Robbie or Leo's anti-possession peeking above their cotton shirts, but it was confirmed by at least three girls and one guy in the senior class that the dark-haired one had two tattoos on his hipbones too; one side was a couple strange symbols in some weird-looking language that wasn't asian or middle eastern or anything any of them could even guess, really. The other had feathers arching up like those little leaves around acclaimed movie titles, one feather pure black and the other colored with inks to make it look like gold.

They were so damn mysterious. It was actually a little bit of entertainment in this town in the middle of America, where nothing exciting really happened. They didn't talk to anybody but themselves much. They had this look to them like they were looking for something as they walked side-by-side down the bleary hallways, shrugging backpacks over one shoulder.

The kids who thought the new kids were exciting, would stare at them from afar. "They never eat! Have you ever seen them take a bite of food?" People said they were vampires. Others said they were some kind of weird gypsy kids, others said they were witches. "I _saw_ him get that papercut, and next thing it was totally gone! Like it never even happened!"

People's eyes followed them as they walked from class to class. Not even the big, bullying kids who thought they were tough shit ever crossed them.

And the weirdest part was that they acted like they were used to it.

Leo slammed his locker shut, he felt student's eyes burning the back of his head. He suddenly remembered why he'd hated high school so much. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, tugging on the lock to make sure it was shut.

It happened too fast for him to react, as boys were messing around and shoving each other, and one knocked into his injured side. He gasped and his hand flew to his side, he doubled over and leaned his shoulder hard onto the cold metal of the locker. The freshmen, terrified of what they thought he'd do to them, scampered away. Leo took in a sharp breath and tried to stand, but it hurt like hell.

"Are you okay?" He heard a voice pipe up. It took a second for Leo to register that someone was actually acknowledging him. He blinked in surprise and looked to who was talking to him.

There was a girl looking at him with wide doe-brown eyes, she blinked and her eyes flicked down to his side. Leo straightened up, his hand still lightly placed over his bandaged side. She was much shorter than him, probably five and a half feet tall, with short copper hair that was done up in a messyish bun, and long lashes around her big brown eyes.

"Um..I'm okay. Thanks." He replied, giving her an easy smile. "You know, most people don't really...talk to me here."

The girl shook her head, her loose copper hairs swaying around her ears. "I've noticed. It's stupid as hell."

Leo grinned a little at her. "Least somebody here has some common sense." He ran a hand nervously through his short blond hair. "I'm Leoniel."

"I'm Audrey." She pointed at his side. "Can I ask what happened?"

"Um...I fell down some stairs?" Leo shrugged nervously.

Then, as they began to walk, Audrey grabbed his shirt and tugged it down. Her eyes widened as she saw his tattoo. "Holy shit- you _are_!"

He had her pinned to the lockers in a second flat, a blade poking onto her stomach as he bared his teeth at her, an arm stretched over her neck. "Show me your teeth. Show me your teeth or you're getting a goddamn stomach full of metal." He growled, not caring that people were staring.

"I'm not a _vampire_!" She hissed under her breath. "I'm a Hunter too. I suspected you and your brother." She struggled under him. "Think you can let go now?"

"Show me." Leo let go, and she turned around and tugged the back of her shirt down a little, the anti-possession over her first vertibrae.

"Sorry to freak you out a little." She shrugged. "I just had to be sure. You guys are here for vamps?"

Leo nodded. "Freshbloods. We think they're turning teenagers here."

He looked down the hall as if he'd be able to spot one then and there. "Hey- what class are you headed to next?"

"PE." Audrey replied. "I just am here for senior year. My family moves around a lot. I guess it's not that bad."

"You know who my brother is, right? About yay high, black hair, green eyes?" Leo dug something out of his pocket. "I have some news for him. I gotta go ditch and follow some kids off campus, but think you can give this to him for me?" He gave her a folded up piece of paper. "That would be awesome." Leo felt like the best wingman ever. Plus, the note wasn't even _that_ important.

Audrey got a very confused look on her face but took the folded paper anyway, slowly pulling it from between his fingers. "Sure, I guess. I have to sneak into the boy's locker room, though."

"Not like you haven't thought about it before." Leo gently teased. Audrey rolled her big brown eyes, smiling. "Shuddup."

_Yup_, Leo thought. _Definitely_.

"Thanks. I owe you big time." Leo shot her a beaming smile.

She tucked into her pocket. "Just don't get caught ditching. You'll have to pick up trash for three hours after school."

"And you know this...?" Leo shrugged his backpack over his shoulder.

She crossed her arms. "I just wanted a burrito. Apparently that's a crime now."

Leo knew Robbie would pretty much fall in love with her the moment she said anything to him. He silently congratulated himself as he waved Audrey goodbye, turning away with a smirk on his face.

...

Robbie wouldn't even be able to explain how much he had hated high school. And now, here he was, surrounded by a swarm of freshmen as he was in the same old smelly PE locker rooms. He was very seriously considering just walking off campus and getting some food down at the nearby 7-11.

He sighed audibly as he spun his lock for the gym locker, hoping they could find who was turning these kids into vamps, and why, soon so they could get the hell out of here.

Robbie then perked up as he heard a very female voice in the very male locker room.

"Winchester, right?" He whipped over to look at who'd called his name. It was a girl of somewhat short statute and bright copper hair, she was smiling and holding out a paper for him to take.

"From the Your Ditching Brother postal service." She laughed and blew a loose peice of red hair from her eyes, laughing a little as the tiny kids began to file out of the room, they were late for being early. Robbie sensed they both shared a common theme of not really giving two fucks.

"Oh. Uh, thanks." Robbie grunted, taking the paper and opening it up. All Enochian. It would take him at least fifteen minutes to decipher this stupid sentence. His brother could be such a smart-alec sometimes.

It was almost only the two of them now.

"So I take it the both of you are hunters." Audrey pointed out the anti-possession on Robbie's chest too, he hadn't even remembered he was changing into his PE shirt until now. And the girl had seemed so collected he didn't even think about it. "I know the one on your chest, but not the other tattoos. I, uh..." She finally tore her eyes away. "So. Vamps. Um...anything I can do to help?" Audrey asked, a little blush on his face now that she'd realized he'd been staring at Robbie's bare chest for a little longer than needed.

Robbie furrowed his brows in thought. "Actually, maybe. You know the..whatever, popular kids who sit on the benches at the edge of campus for lunch? I think it would help to try and get in the clique. Two of those kids are already vamps, and they probably are trying to turn more. We have to find their source and kill it. They seem to only let attractive people into their group so-" Robbie instantly clammed up. He felt like he'd been dunked in ice water. Crap. Shit, shit.

Audrey's eyebrows lilted a little. "Oh...um.."

_Floosh_.

Suddenly Robbie's right hand was on fire. Not just the crackly coal-like texture he usually got, but full on, bright red and orange, fucking _flames_. Robbie instantly tried to put it out. Crap. What the hell was that?

"Holy shit dude!" Audrey barked out, stumbling backward. "Y-You're.."

Robbie was blushing profusely as he swatted at his hand and used as much energy as he could to subdue the flames. "I-uh must have left my lighter in my pocket..uh.."

Audrey was frozen in place, staring at him with her mouth slightly agape.

Robbie stared back, unsure what to do. This was absolutely beyond awkward now.

"Man, are you _okay_?" Audrey looked thoroughly confused and concerned. She was giving Robbie this puppy-eyed look.

Robbie clenched his hand into a fist. "Er..maybe I should go to the nurse." He hid his unblemished hand from view, pretending it was injured. "I-um-I gottagotothenurseokaybye!" He stumbled out of the locker room as fast as he could. Fuck. He was usually the smoothest guy ever when it came to the ladies.

This girl was pretty cute. He totally knew his brother had sent her on purpose too. Leo knew he kind of had a thing for redhead girls. And he totally, undeniably done fucked up.

When Dean rolled up in the Impala with Sam riding shotgun, Leo waggled his eyebrows at his brother in a way he knew Robbie despised as they clunked down the stairs.

"Shut the hell up." Robbie clenched his teeth together. He didn't want to think about accidently spontaneously combusting _ever_ again. He was getting pink just thinking about it now.

* * *

Robbie knew Dean would worry nonstop until Cas came back home. It was just the way he was. Robbie slinked out to the dining table after dinner. He had never actually had a talk with his dad like this before.

"Hey." Robbie said, sliding up next to Dean and frowning a little. He snatched up his father's drink and took a big swig, grinning a little as Dean rolled his eyes.

"I thought I raised you better." Dean laughed just a little.

Robbie lifted a dark eyebrow. "Apparently not."

The kid sighed and pursed his lips just a little. "Can I..uh..talk to you about something? It's about the case. Well, not the case specifically but the..uh...evironment.."

"The high school?" Dean asked, trying to hide his smile. Was he going to ask what he thought it would be?

"Uh...yeah." Robbie combed his fingers through his dark hair. "Just wondering...if...um.."

"C'mon, Bobby, speak up." Dean laughed just a little, his hand curling around his beer.

"I invited someone from school for dinner." He said as he scrubbed the back of his head with his hand.

"Who?" Dean raised his eyebrows.

"Uh, her name's Audrey." Robbie said a little nervously.

"Okay...and..how old is she?" Dean asked, and Robbie avoided his gaze.

"She's a senior. Seventeen, maybe. Lee invited her over for dinner in a couple days 'cuz she's a Hunter too and, well, you know how hard it was for us to make friends 'n stufff in school..but..er.." He nervously played with his fingers. "She's..uh..maybe more than a friend for me..so...yeah..."

There was a very awkward silence.

"I think she's too young for you." Dean coughed.

Robbie's hands curled into fists as he rolled his eyes. "D-_aaaad_!" He whined in embarrassment. "Like you're one to talk! Cas is like a million billion years older than you!"

"That's different, Bobby." Dean answered, trying to cover up his smile that gave away that he wasn't really being serious.

"Look," Robbie puffed a strand of dark hair from his forehead. "She's really a neat chick so just... don't embarrass me, okay?"

Dean smirked a little and took another swig of beer, smiling around the glass as he took a drink. "Alright." He put down the beer and frowned a little. "Dammit. I'm not ready for my little baby to start dating."

"Dad I'm _nineteen_." Robbie crossed his arms and looked very irritated.

"I know. It's just, you've never brought someone over for dinner before. You were always the hide-stuff-from-dad kinda kid who just was in it for the makeouts." Dean chuckled. "You've never actually dated anyone before."

Robbie frowned. "I know. Dad, I...I really feel like I might like her, okay?"

Dean was laughing. "Okay. I won't embarrass you." He took another sip of beer.

Robbie looked even more uncomfortable as he wrung his hands in his lap. "And you..uh..have a lot a research about, like, creatures and stuff right?" He mumbled. "Cuz I..well, have some questions.."

Dean lifted his eyebrow. "You know I don't consider you a 'creature', right?" Dean was using his warning voice.

"No, I mean, I knew _that_." Robbie frowned, his voice lower and quieter as he spoke up again. "It's about..like, phoenix stuff."

Dean seemed even more interested. "Well? What happened?"

Robbie looked very uncharacteristically embarrassed as he played with his hand that had burst into flames earlier today. "Uh..while I was talking to her I kind of..spontaneously combusted?"

Dean was trying very, very hard not to laugh, forcing himself to try and stop smiling. "You know, now that I think about it, life with normal ol' kids would be way too boring." He was really on the brink of bursting out laughing.

"Dadthisisn'tfunny!" Robbie shot out, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. "I don't know _why_!"

"Look, I found out a few years ago with your brother that it's normal but-" Dean clamped a hand over his mouth, a few snickers escaping his fingers. "Bobby, I'm sorry, I really am, I justahahaha! At this age-"

Robbie frowned, flushing even more pink as his brother came into the room. Oh, hell.

"Hey, Leo! Robbie burst into flames today talking to his lady crush!" Dean was practically wheezing with laughter already.

"Dadwhatthefuck?!" Robbie shot out, and he buried his face in his palms. Did he seriously just tell his dad he'd gotten some form of pheonix boner?

"Bahahahaha!" Leo came up to the table and buried his face in his arms. He pounded the table with his fist, laughing so hard he was wheezing.

"He spontaneously combusted in front of her!" Dean was barely able to talk through his laughter.

"Sto-o-o-p!" Leo hid his face in his arms and was practically choking on his own laughter. "He-ohmygahahahahahahaha!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Robbie crossed his arms tightly over his chest. "You guys suck so hard!" His face was already a bright pink.

"My heart's on fire!" Dean wheezed as he clapped Leo on the back, who was banging the table with his fist, letting out little whines of laughter as he tried to stop.

"I'm leaving! You two are mother fuckers!" Robbie scowled as the chair squealed to stand up.

"We still love you!" Dean called back, his voice tight from keeping it steady, and he and Leo looked at each other and dissolved into loud snickers again.

Robbie stormed from the room, holding a middle finger behind him and blushing profusely. He hoped they wouldn't pull any of this crap when the she-Hunter came over for dinner on Friday. But with a family like his, he didn't know what to expect.


	12. Of Ash and Fire

Thank you for the reviews jojospn and 26 :) You guys are awesome. Here's the next chapter!

* * *

"You know, if most people set foot in this house they'd probably faint or run away screaming." Robbie chuckled a little and sat down in front of the fireplace once again, seeing Leo comfortably sitting among the bright flames that licked around his shoulders and flickered in his eyes. "How's that hole of yours?"

"Closing up." Leo answered, gently pressing his side. "Still kinda hurts, though."

"How did you know?" Robbie asked, covering his mouth with the back of his hand to hide his smile.

"What? That you'd like her? Just bein' a wingman. I knew the second I met her you'd like her. " Leo laughed. "Sorry for laughing at you before. It was just hilarious."

"Yeah, ya should be sorry." Robbie snorted. "Ass."

Leo could tell by the tense way he was carrying himself that Robbie wanted to tell him something. He waited for him to talk first, listening to the crackle of the fire all around him for a moment.

"I...I gotta tell you something, Lee." Robbie finally sighed, staring down at the carpet. "...Secret for secret?" Robbie asked in a hushed voice.

"Sure." Leo shrugged, but his voice was somber. They'd only done this a few times in the past, and it didn't always end well.

"When we mowed down that mob. The demon and angels who were after the Gemlings in that hoard. Did you...did you...give in?" Robbie asked, nudging a log by the edge of the fire to be more into the flames.

Leo hugged his knees to his chest, the protective action he usually made whenever he was nervous. "Do you mean..did I consume any more demon blood?"

Robbie nodded, his eyes downcast.

Leo didn't want to answer at first. His answer came with his exhale. "Yes."

Robbie's sharp and pained inhale gave Leo his answer.

Leo shut his eyes to get rid of the unpleasant fizzy feeling as unshed tears began to boil away in his eyes. He didn't know how long the cravings would last, since it was put directly into his bloodstream and not through drinking. He still got them sometimes.

"I ate a human heart." Robbie said so suddenly that it felt like a physical blow to the brother in the fire.

"W-what?" Leo stammered.

"You heard me." Robbie growled, averting his eyes in shame. "Three years ago, down in Atlanta. When you were still stuck in Training. I gave in when it was a full moon, and I don't remember doing it but I-I know I did." His voice lowered to a little more than a whisper. "What if...that means my cure ain't gonna hold up, Lee?"

Leo bit his lip, looking at Robbie's head of pitch black hair as he kept it bowed.

"Are we the bad guys, RJ?" Leo asked in a voice that barely carried over the crackle in the fire.

"I dunno." Robbie sighed, picking at the old carpet. "Maybe. I can't tell anymore."

"I can't tell anymore either." Leo whispered. "But I think everybody's got a little bad in them. What matters is if you can outweigh it."

Robbie finally met his brother's eyes, glowing orange from the flames. His eyes flicked down to his arms, arched hole patterns blemishing the skin on both of them.

"If I ever turn into that again, you shoot me." Robbie growled, squeezing his hands together nervously. "I'm never gonna kill anyone else. You better not let me."

"We don't know if it'll break-" Leo protested.

"Promise me." Robbie narrowed his eyes, it was hard to see they were green in the shadows. They looked like shiny black buttons. "You don't have to shoot to kill. But you have to stop me."

Leo hesitated. Finally, he nodded. "One condition." He sucked in a breath, the air was ultrahot from the flames, his lungs welcomed it. "You ever catch me drinking demon blood again, you beat the shit out of me. Then give me that nasty purification serum and lock me up until I'm clean."

"I don't want to beat the shit out of you, Lee." Robbie said irritably.

"I don't want to shoot you either, wiseass." Leo shot back.

Robbie pressed his lips together, thinking. "How badly?"

"At least one black eye and something broken," Leo replied matter-of-factly.

Robbie frowned. "Us two; we're really fucked up, you know that?"

"It'll keep each other in line. I don't want to be the bad guys." Leo twiddled around with his hands. "So, what? Deal?"

Robbie inched closer, extending his hand into the flames as they curled around it and licked the pale skin, splitting where his arm was and swaying on either side of it. "This is the worst deal I've ever made." He shook Leo's hand.

"Hey. It's not easy being the good guy. We need..guidelines, you know? We got each other for that." Leo sighed and leaned his back on the sooty concrete back of the fireplace.

"You better heal up, kid." Robbie began to slide away from the hearth, patting his knees as he stood up.

He thought he'd imagined it.

"I'll never think of you as a murderer, RJ."

Robbie didn't have the nightmare that night.

...

Dean hated the feeling of Cas being absent from the house, gone hell knows where with no definite answer as to when he was coming home. It wasn't the same without him as Dean turned in for the night. He wasn't surprised when he was met with a less than pleasant dream.

Cas was standing in front of him, his posture calm and collected as he was being swallowed by flames that flickered all up his trenchcoat, only his head was not burning yet. Dean saw his face; the white hairs that peppered his temples, his deeper wrinkles, crow's feet around his squinty eyes. The Cas he'd left behind in the universe he'd visited in his dream.

"Dean." He spoke up, it was just a hollow statement.

"Oh, sweetheart. I didn't know this was going to happen to you." Dean felt his heart squeezing uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to leave you all alone."

The bright flames flickered and swayed on his elbows, his stomach, his legs. He was silent.

"Cas, please. I found you again. A version of you who didn't suffer because I got you pregnant and didn't burn out or any of that. But I'm also not married yet either. I have a fresh start, Cas. I can make things better. I won't mess up this time, I promise."

The man's eyebrows furrowed as the flames began to consume even more of him. His hand pressed against his stomach, he began to get a look of pain on his face. One of his knees folded, and he started to collapse to the floor.

"Cas!" Dean screamed, beginning to run towards the burning man. He was nothing more than flames now, then a pile of ash.

"No, please..please, I'm sorry.." He knelt down, plunging his hands into the pile of flaky grey and searching. "Where are you?!"

He finally felt something, a shoulder or an arm. He pulled, fisting the material and tugging as hard as he could.

"Dean?"

He blinked tiny little ashes from his eyelashes, rubbing it off his face. This was the younger Cas, the one from the real dimension. "What's happening?" He propped himself up, his legs bent just a little at the knee as he scrubbed his hair free of the ashes.

"Are you my Cas?" Dean took his face in his hands and looked over all his features. He looked like he was, but he couldn't tell for sure. "Please..."

"Dad?"

Dean felt his shoulder being gently pushed, and he groaned groggily. "Whosthat?" He yawned and opened his eyes, sitting up in bed and running a hand down his face.

"You were sleeptalking. Pretty loudly, actually. Didn't seem like so good of a dream, so.." It was Leo who had come to wake him up. His blue eyes were a very deep blue in the dim light. "I want him home too."

Leo sighed and sat on the edge of the bed with a little rustle, looking down at his hands which were clasped in his lap. He had the look of a person who hadn't slept all night.

"Sweet dreams, Dean." He patted the bedding, and then he was gone.

Dean wondered why he had that troubled look on his face.

...

It happened when Dean and Sam had gone out to get groceries.

There had been a large clattering and breaking sound of glass. "Dad!" Robbie surged forward and planted his palm on Cas's chest as he began to tip forward, steadying him. "What's wrong?" Robbie realized that he had blood on his clothes. "Cas..."

He began to pull away, but the angel squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his wrist. "No," His voice graveled. "No."

Robbie lead him to lay down on the couch. His face was pale and tight with emotion, as Robbie gently lowered his back to sink into the cushions. "Robert..no, no...nonono..." The angel repeated and over again. "My child, my baby.."

"_Lee_! Get out here now!" Robbie bellowed into the depths of the bunker, squeezing Cas's hand as he kept muttering, gripping tight to Robbie's hand. He knelt down and gently touched Cas's shoulder, spreading his fingers and taking his angelic father by the side of his face.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here." Robbie fired out. "I'm right here."

"I won't..I won't hurt them. I won't..no, no..." The man's eyes opened just a sliver. "I won't...no..." He was breathing hard, but he finally trailed off. He took a few deep breaths, he still never broke the death grip from Robbie's hand. "My..my family.."

"Hey, shh. It's okay. You're home now." Robbie tried to pry his hand out of Cas's as it began to tingle from cut circulation. He looked up when he heard clambering footsteps, and looked up to see his brother's flustered face.

"Your souls," Cas's voice was strained. "Come closer. I have to feel your souls." His breath rattled from his ribcage as he closed his eyes once again.

Dean came home to see Cas curled up with his head resting on Robbie's collarbones, gripping one arm tight around him as a small orange cat was draped over his other arm, he was breathing slowly in and out as Robbie rubbed his shoulder as he saw Dean come into the room.

"What happened?" Dean asked, quickly striding forward and touching the angel gently on the shoulder. "Cas?"

"He said he took care of it. Of us." Robbie explained quietly. "He says he likes to feel our souls." Dean lay his hand on his shoulder, and the angel stiffened and pulled himself even closer to Robbie, his eyes staring into nothing.

"What did they do to you?" Dean asked, keeping his hand on his shoulder. "Doubles?"

The man hesistated but finally nodded.

"That's why you need to feel their souls. Doubles don't have them." Dean said for him. This time he indicated nothing as he kept his cheek firmly pressed to Robbie, his eyes squeezed shut like a little kid.

"They're safe now, Cas. You did it, didn't you?" Dean asked in a soft voice as Robbie simply looked on. "You did it?" Dean repeated, reaching out and tucking a tiny bit of black hair behind his ear with a tiny push of his thumb.

"Yes." Cas finally rasped. "..for...my family."

"I know I chose the right guy, Cas." Dean smiled, once again tucking the curl behind his ear. "You've got a family now."

"I..can hardly believe." Cas said on exhale, finally lessening his grip from Robbie's tightly wrinkled clothes. "But I'm happy."

Dean broke into a smile. "I'm happy too."

Cas finally let go of latching onto Robbie and Dean collected him into his arms instead. He felt him sigh as he buried his head into his shoulder, Dean looked out to Robbie and just in time to see Leo materialize and sit next to him.

"Okay, you two. Bedtime." Dean nodded toward their room as he adjusted his grip on Cas. Robbie rolled his eyes but stood up and began to make his way to his room.

Dean carried Cas to his room and gently lay him down on the bedding, where he stayed curled up like that. Dean tenderly began to peel away the bloodied clothes, happy that he didn't see any wounds on his bare skin. He wished he could cover that pale skin with kisses and watch the muscles roll under the skin of his back and see the line of his spine deepen and then get shallower, watch his shoulder blades tense up, drawing together, and then relax as he gasped out little moans, Dean wanted to kiss his skin until he felt it misted with saline sweat and-

He forced himself to stop thinking that. He tossed away the bloodied clothing and tucked him in softly, pulling the blanket up over his bare shoulders and taking his face between his hands, smudging one of his cheeks as he observed him, his blue eyes were half-lidded. "Are you hurt?" Dean asked in a little over a whisper.

"No." Cas replied huskily. "...I don't think so." His fingers curled over the top of the blanket and he brought it a little closer. He stared out at Dean with half-lidded eyes again, the blue twinkling in the dim light.

"Thank you." Dean said tenderly, smiling a kind of sad smile as he pushed the hair off his forehead. "I just wanted to let you know that I...I never want to be with anyone else, Cas. I was married to you for fifteen years, I know that look. Like you don't think you're good enough. I will wait for you, Cas. Don't you get that? I love you."

"I'm not good enough for you, Dean." The angel closed his eyes as a look of pain crossed his face. "Their real father was good enough. Me...Dean, I've hurt you. I've killed your double thousands of times. I've betrayed you. I love you too, Dean, in a way I didn't know was capable for me to feel, but I'm not-"

He was interrupted by a soft pair of lips pressing to his. He looked up in awe as Dean pulled away.

"Cas?" Dean asked, smiling a little again and once again pushing his hand over his forehead, once again combing his fingers through his hair. "Shuddup."

Dean saw the angel finally relax a little, he was still tense from whatever he'd been doing up in heaven.

"Why do you love me, Dean?" Cas's blue eyes were innocent and confused as his nose wrinkled as he asked the question. "I'm not good at any of this."

"That's why we have a thing called practice." Dean teased, kissing his neck softly as Cas moaned involuntarily and moved his jaw so more of his neck was exposed. Then Cas then kissed him this time. Dean was about to break it off and say goodnight like he always did, when he felt fingers curl around the nape of his neck. He looked down at the angel, his pupils dark and blown wide, the _look_ he was giving Dean.

"I can't." Dean said hoarsely. "Cas, you're not ready."

"I...I think I am. I don't want to be with anyone else either, Dean." He whispered. "...I want to."

"Not until we're married." The phrase slipped from Dean's mouth, words he never thought he'd say. "That's the religious way, isn't it?"

Cas shut his eyes and a small smile crossed his face. "When we're married. I would like that."

Dean lay back down beside him from the position he'd been crouching on top. "I want to make things right this time around. I really do. I messed up so badly at first in my other life. You were dying and I didn't admit that I loved you until it was too late. I want to make things perfect..here. Okay?"

"Okay." The angel repeated, snuggling down into the blankets. "Goodnight, Dean."

"G'night, Cas." He replied, taking his angel's hand and kissing the fourth finger, surprised for a second to find it bare. "Sorry. Force of habit."

Cas sighed as an arm draped over his waist and Dean lay his head into a pillow just behind his head, the sheets rustling as they got comfortable for the night.

...

Dean slowly opened his eyes, blinking a little. Cas was buried under a pillow, just his hand and a little bit of his dark hair sticking out. He moaned a little as Dean pulled away.

"Dean...I am not feeling very well.." He groaned, his fingers curling into a little fist.

"Hey. Just relax. You'll wear yourself out." Dean took his hand and gently dragged his thumb over his wrist.

"Is this real?" Cas asked, it sounded like it was to himself. "Am I home?"

"I'm right here. You can feel my soul, can't you?" Dean took the pillow off his head and lay his hand on Cas's cheek. The angel relaxed just a little.

"I need my sons." Cas said in a husky voice, still not opening his eyes. "Where..."

"Hang tight. I'll go get them." Dean pulled away and slipped off the bed, padding through the hallway. The beds in the twin's room were empty, but he did spy a little white cat curled up among the rumpled sheets. Dean scooped Leo up and the cat mewled in annoyance.

"You sleep in way too late anyway, so be quiet." Dean chuckled, and the cat slipped out of his arms right away and curled up onto Cas's tummy, shutting his eyes and purring a little.

"My baby," Cas sighed just a little, gently putting his hand on the cat's soft white flank. He curled up around the animal, holding him close to his chest and hugging him. "I love you." He kissed the white fur in between the cat's ears.

"What did they do to you, Cas?" Dean asked once again.

"Mind games." Cas kept his eyes shut, still keeping somber as Leo purred and dragged his furry cheek onto the angel's. "It doesn't matter. I have made my family safe now."

He stayed with Leo curled in his arms, silent for a while. "..Why are they like this, Dean?" Cas asked in a small voice. "You said they were born with it. How did this happen?"

Dean sighed and also ran his hand along the cat's soft fur on his head. "It was heaven. They stole you away when you found out you were carrying fledglings, they trapped you, told you they would kill the babies if you resisted the treatments. You only let them because you couldn't stand the thought of killing your firstborns." Dean was now standing up, his hands in fists. "And I..I didn't know any of it. I couldn't help you, and that son of a bitch was injecting things into them and hurting you and I couldn't stop it and-"

He had turned away, fuming. He felt a hand on his shoulder, he knew it was Leo's.

"You ended him, Dad. Remember?" His voice was soft.

"It wasn't enough just to kill him." Dean said gruffly. "He deserved worse after what he did to you. To Cas."

"I...I like who I am, Dad." Leo spoke up shyly. "And he never touched Cas. Well, _this_ Cas. He doesn't matter anymore. Not since Robbie was cured."

Dean locked his jaw. "Not if it breaks." He bit out angrily.

He still didn't turn to look at Leo. There was a moment of silence from the kid.

"He told me everything." Leo hung his head. "I already know." He was running his thumb over his scars again. "It won't break. I know it won't. "

He was once again at Cas's side as the angel beckoned for him, shutting his eyes and keeping his hand around Leo's wrist.

Dean still didn't turn around. It was clear he was seething. He gripped the doorpost, stayed, and then was out of the room.

"He is very protective of you." Cas observed after he'd disappeared.

"So are you." Leo laughed just a little. "I got two papa bears looking out for me. And one brother bear."

Cas smiled and shut his eyes. "He sounds like me." He said absent-mindedly. "The other Cas. Maybe we are not so different after all."

"Yeah." Leo agreed in a small voice, smiling and letting his angelic father hug him close again. "I guess not."


	13. Bloodlines

Thanks to jojospn and weedom for your reviews :3 Now, I'm continuing with a little more of a heavier plot and I hope you like it! This chapter was not as good as I would have hoped, but wheh :( I hope that you'll like some of the next ones :)

On with the story!

* * *

It was right around the break of dawn when Dean woke from the couch by a small roll of his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw a freckled face peering down at him, his lips pulled into a frown. Dean had completely forgotten about falling asleep out here after he'd tried to get some research done about werewolves and cures and dimension-hopping, his anxieties about Robbie weighing heavy on him. And now he jolted awake. _Cas_.

"I think something's wrong with Cas." Leo whispered, wringing his hands together again and again. "He told us it would blow over in a couple of hours, but...I think they did something to him. Heaven. Shit, it wouldn't be the first time."

"What's wrong? I'm talking symptoms, what he's been saying or doing." Dean reached out and planted his hands on his shoulders. "Hey. Relax. Tell me what's going on."

Leo's deep blue eyes were shining brightly as his eyebrows were drawn together with worry.

"It's hard to relax when it fucking comes to heaven, dad." His fingers were jittering, he touched his stamped statisical tattoos absent-mindedly. He'd never had a good relationship with upstairs either; he'd been stolen away from his family against his will, and "Trained" as well as heavily experimented on when he'd been kidnapped in heaven. He still had nightmares from it. He shook his head. "Dammit. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just worried."

"You deserve to be nervous." Dean frowned once again. He was still angry and frustrated at himself for letting his child be hurt for so long. He stood up and ran his fingers through his short hair, and began to swiftly make his way to the bedroom, Leo trailing after him on his long, bumbly legs.

"Dad, what if..what if there's a replay in this dimension, what if he's...repeating with me and Rob and-" Leo spewed nervously. "He looks sick. He looks really bad, dad-"

Dean quickly pulled open to door to find Robbie with Cas partially pulled into his lap. The angel's face was pale, his eyes closed, and his one arm looped tightly over Robbie's back. Robbie was trying his best to console him, rubbing his shoulder gently as he bowed his head.

"Hey, hey. Cas." Dean swiftly came forward and took his face in his hands. His cheeks and nose were beading with sweat, and his eyes opened to only a sliver of blue.

"Cas, I need you to answer me. What did they do to you?" Dean gently dragged his thumb along his cheek. "Can you...are you hurting? Did they hurt you?"

Cas moaned softly before shaking his head.

"Oh, thank god." Dean sighed. "C'mere. Let's get you comfortable."

Dean transferred the angel into his arms instead, and the angel groaned as Dean felt his burning forehead. "Rob, go get me a wet rag with cold water. Leo, some painkillers and flu meds from the bathroom, please."

"They're cutting me off, I believe. My power source from heaven." Cas's voice was strained as the two teenagers stumbled from the room. Dean felt his forehead again, it was searing under his palm. Cas's eyelids fluttered closed with the relief of his cool palm.

"It's never been like this before, has it?" Dean asked in concern.

"No." Cas replied with a sigh. "I don't understand it. Something about this is very strange. It could be some kind of..disturbance. I can't explain it."

Dean frowned and pushed a lock of damp black hair from his forehead. "Whatever this is, we're going to get through this. Me and the boys are going to help you through this."

"Hmm." Cas hummed as Dean pulled him into a comfortable position resting back against his chest, Dean lightly wrapping his arms around his midsection. The angel's tense muscles quickly relaxed as he leaned back into him.

"Here," Robbie handed Dean the cold rag, and Dean began to dab the sweat away from his cheeks. "Is he okay?"

"I'll make sure he is." Dean assured him. "Hey, you two have to get to school already."

Robbie groaned. "The vamps, I know. Gotta gank the vamps." He looked to Dean with concerned green eyes. "But you'll tell me, right? If anything bad happens? Text me, and I'll come home right away, okay?"

Dean smiled and dabbed gently at Cas's pale cheeks once again. "Remind me again who the parent is here?"

Robbie couldn't help but break into a smile. He rolled his eyes. "Shuddup."

"My keys are on the counter. You two better not get kicked out of another school." Dean joked, and Robbie left to try and get ready as Leo came back into the room with some water and pills.

"I just got the one that said it would bring down the fever." Leo let the little pills tumble into Dean's palm. "Just..uh, let us know if we need to come home, okay?"

Dean smiled. "That's exactly what your brother said."

Leo smiled shyly. "Yeah, well. We did save his life once, so..kinda hard to let that go."

"And I love you to heaven and back for that. But for now, you have to get going to school, alright?" Dean gently rubbed Cas's shoulder as he moaned a little and sunk deeper into Dean's arms, resting his cheek on his chest. "Go get 'em. Bring me back some vamp heads."

"Fine." Leo laughed and gently patted Cas's knee as he went to leave. "Feel better, dad."

The two of them could faintly be heard clunking around the house, a few mumbled words and laughs before the keys were snatched up and the door slammed.

Dean found himself absent-mindedly bringing his hand gently up and down the center of the angel's chest, and he stopped himself right when he realized he was doing it.

"Sorry." He said softly. "You used to have a scar there. From when...Leo was cut out of you. Sometimes it hurt you a lot, and sometimes a little massage would help." He gently pushed the damp hair from his forehead. "Just try and relax. I'll take care of you, okay?"

"Hmm." Cas sighed, and Dean dabbed at his forehead again. "Something's wrong in heaven, Dean. I just don't know what."

"It doesn't have to be our problem. Not if we don't want it to." Dean sighed. Just when things felt like they were starting to settle down, things just had to get stirred up again. With his family back, and teenage romance problems and school, he felt himself comfortably fitting into domesticity again. But maybe the universe just didn't work that way for him.

Dean felt Cas relax, and he almost felt like falling asleep himself. Trying not to fall asleep, he spoke up.

"Cas?" He asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"I just want to know..if you understand how they exist. The boys." Dean asked.

"It's very complicated." He replied. "Technically, anything you can come up with can exist somewhere. There are infinite possibilites and combonations of events, and they all exist at once. Most angels- when they dream, they do not interact as much with the world as a human would. Humans never dream long enough to create a life for themselves like you did. Much less have angels who could make the journey."

"Well, all I know is that I'm happy they're here." Dean closed his eyes. "You know, I think the other Cas would have wanted this. Me here with you. I know I can make things better this time around, Cas." He hugged him closer.

"I think he would have wanted this too." Cas agreed, and Dean gently dabbed his forehead again as he closed his eyes and tried to rest. Cas couldn't understand why he was feeling so sick and drained, but he prayed that his angelic family from which he'd somewhat separated was going to be okay.

* * *

Somewhere hundreds of miles away, a bright white light was flowing into the face of a teenage girl standing in the middle of a damp parking lot, surrounded by two people in very formal attire. Every square inch of cement seemed to have some kind of obscure symbol spray painted in bright red, and finally the light filled the human, and she looked up to her two angel confidants.

There stood a teenage girl with pitch black hair that fell into her face, her eyes heavily made up with thick black eyeliner and a dimple piercing with a diamond. She cracked her knuckles, her black nail-polished fingers lacing together and pushing outward. The many rainbow beads and noisy bands clunked together as her arms swung back to her sides.

She tipped her head to one side and then the next, loud pops cracking in succession. "Oh, teenage girls these days with their black nail polish and their Satanic Worship." She grinned and also cracked her back. He then examined the skinny arms he was wearing; already bruised, and veins were cracking like a porcelain doll. He groaned in annoyance.

"I applaud finding me a willing vessel on such short notice. But this one is so soft. Another will be needed very soon..." He scolded the two angels who stood before him. "I'm sure heaven will be feeling the effects of my return by now. That's why I need a stronger vessel, a secure place to _stay_."

"Master." A tall man in a suit stood next to him with his hands tucked primly behind his back. A very serious-looking woman in a pant suit also stood there, her nose upturned and her lips pressed tight. "We apologize deeply. She is far from suitable, but required the least amont of convincing. However-"

"Any news on my vessel? Good ol' Sam?" Lucifer interrupted, and tapped a converse-clad foot on the floor impatiently.

The professionally dressed angel smiled just a little. "Better, sir." He shifted his weight from foot to foot. "We've found you a permanent vessel."

"Do you mean another who will agree to sustain me? I'd like a comfortable,_true_ one, if you don't mind." Lucifer frowned and his hands curled lightly into loose fists. Somehow, he couldn't find it in him to applaud his supporter's work,

One again the suited angel shook his head. "We have managed to find you a true vessel. _Another_ true vessel."

"How?" The devil was instantly skeptical. "There are no other bloodlines we know of. Sam does not have offspring, and that bastard child Ben was designed for Michael."

"Master. You know of him, the seraph Castiel. He recently killed almost thirty angels who were in the garrison which keeps tabs on the whole angelic network. There was one survivor." The woman spoke up this time, even her stony expression looking a small bit excited. "The following information was acquired before the wounds became too great and the angel died; Dean Winchester has two sons. They are part of the bloodline tracing all the way back to Cain and Abel. Somehow, they are of possessable age. We suspect time travel, but we're not sure. But they are _here_, and one is available for you, sir."

"We got all the information we could before the angel died. One..uh, _detail_ is this new vessel is a Nephilim." The man added.

Lucifer's eyes narrowed and a malicious smile stretched on the girl's lips. "The offspring of a human and angel?"

"Yes." The woman answered. "It could, well, complicate things."

"Yes, he potentially could eject me. But then again, if I am able to break him first..." The teen smiled and began pulling off all those awful rainbow chunky beads and hello kitty wristbands from the rapidly decaying arms, flinging them to the damp asphalt.

"First, find this child. Do whatever it takes. And bring him to me." She rolled more bracelets off of her wrists like a snake molting, colorful rings clattering to the ground. Her dark brown eyes glittered poisonously in the yellow light of the streetlamp. "And then we'll have some _fun."_


	14. Claire Novak

Thank you everyone so much for your input and help! I really, really appreciate it, because I was so stuck but now I have a really clear idea as to where I'd like to take this story. Thanks for reading, & reviewing Violet Erin.26, Frozeninspace, dark-magician100, jojospn, weedom, & Fallen's Child ! You guys all rock :D!

And sorry about this not showing up the first time, there was something weird when I deleted the note. Sorry about that! I hope you guys like the chapter.

* * *

The two angels sat together at a desk in the "quiet" section of the local library, the man wearing a grey, tailored suit and the woman was wearing a white blazer and black dress.

"I've tried everything. The Winchesters are simply...invisible to us angels." The woman spoke up in a hushed tone. "There must be some way to draw them out of hiding."

"There is only one thing I have heard about these Winchesters, that their weakness is family." The man spoke up in a low, rumbling voice. "They think they have their family hidden, but I know of one specific child. Castiel's vessel's daughter, Claire. She has no protection from the supernatural; if we can somehow get her to send out a cry for help..."

"The Winchesters will come running." The woman smirked, her eyes narrowing. "And we will find our Master a vessel."

"Correct." The man straightened up in his seat. "We will seal a demon within her, without her knowledge. They will report back to us, and when the moment is right, when the boy can slip through their fingers, we take the child with us."

The woman smirked. "Agreed." She knitted her fingers together and also straightened up. "Let us consult with the demons of hell."

* * *

Dean stayed with Cas as he slowly began to lose his angelic power, dabbing at his forehead and bringing him lots of water to drink, but mostly holding him close and trying to tell him he was going to be fine.

Dean went to grab him a glass of water when he came home to find him sleeping.

"Cas?" Dean spoke up, shaking his shoulder to try and wake him up. "Cas! Wake up!"

"_Castiel_!"

The man opened his eyes and looked into a very familiar face, the face he always saw as he looked in the mirror. He was lying on the floor in some strange house, not in a bed with rumpled sheets with Dean pushing his hair from his forehead and giving him little kisses along the burning forehead. The house was vaguely familar, with a wood staircase and family photos lining the walls.

"James?" Cas asked, rubbing his eyes and trying to sit up. He saw the light in the living room on, and saw the back of someone's head as she waited on the couch. "Where am I?"

"You're dreaming. But you still share your body with me, and I see everything up here in heaven. The only way I can talk to you is through these dreams, when you've not yet completely fallen." Jimmy grabbed his shirt and yanked him to stand.

"Listen, angel." Jimmy hissed, narrowing his eyes and bringing his face very close to its clone. "I see everything from up here in heaven, and I _watch over my family_. My family is in trouble, Castiel, you swore you would protect them!" He gave his shoulders a little shake. "I let you possess me, keep possessing me..."

"I am in no state to..to give protection now," Cas said in a sickly voice. "What is threatening them?"

"Demons." Jimmy growled. "You better protect my daughter and my wife, Castiel. I let you take away my life, _please_." His fingers finally loosened from the tight hold on his lapels, he pulled away, his fingers still curled slightly. "Please, you can take me and kill me. Just not them."

Jimmy's bright blue eyes were full of emotion, and just beginning to shine with tears. He put his hands onto the angel's shoulders, his expression begging him.

"I...I will try." The angel replied weakly. "I will try my hardest."

His eyes finally snapped opeen, and he met Dean's face this time instead of his own.

"Cas, Jesus, you fell asleep?" Dean rubbed his shoulder a little. "Hey. You okay?"

Cas took in a sharp breath and ran his hand down his face in an effort to wake up. "I..I can still feel my grace, which means I haven't completely fallen." He straightened up, Dean looking at him with extreme concern.

"I'm not completely fallen, and in my dream, my vesssel was able to communicate with me from his personal heaven, where he has been watching over his family. He says his family is being attacked by demons." Cas grunted and tried to sit up, but his head began swimming.

"Whoa. Slow down." Dean held his shoulders steady as he began to tilt a little. "Where are they? Jimmy's wife and daughter, right?"

"The same address from years before. From when I first took James as my vessel." Cas explained wearily. "I will try to save them, but with something sapping my energy source, I don't know how much I will be able to do for them. If I can do _anything_ for them."

"Family means much more than these vamps the kids are hunting, Cas." Dean frowned, pulling out his phone. "You have to get better. Me and the boys will go help."

"Are you sure?" He asked, frowning. "They are my responsibility..." Black began to spot his vision again, and he had to lay down again.

"Yes." Dean growled. "You have to ride this out. Fallen, human, or not, we can't have you sick like this. I'll go with them, you'll be safe here."

"But-" He tried speaking up quietly, and Dean gently shushed him.

"Don't worry. Just focus on getting better." Dean pushed the hair from his forehead and combed his fingers through his hair until he'd relaxed, his eyes closing.

"Try and rest." Dean finally left the room, taking out his cellphone and hitting speed dial for Robbie.

His phone rang in class, and he snatched it up to check. He'd been worried all day about his parents, which made it a little hard to focus on Economics or Statistics. When he saw it was Dean, he picked it up without hesitation.

"Dad!" He burst out to say, and the whole class whipped to look at him. The teacher turned away from the whiteboard and stared at him like he was isane.

"Mr. Winchester. Put that phone away now, or I will confiscate it for a month." The woman tapped her foot impatiently.

Robbie bit his lip, and stood up. "Um, I suddenly really have to piss." He snatched the bathroom key hanging on the hook. By the time he left, the class was in uproar and the teacher was desparately trying to settle them down.

"What's going on?" Robbie shot out as he now quickly strode down the hallway. "Is Cas okay? Is everything alright?"

"We're fine. He's fine, I don't know what's exactly going on with him, but he's okay. I need you to get home as soon as you can. Cas has someone important that we have to save."

Robbie drew his eyebrows together, pressing the earpiece a little closer. "Who?"

"His vessel's family, Jimmy's wife and daughter. She's technically your half-sister." Dean explained. "They're in trouble. Demons are after them."

"I'll come home right away." Robbie said, frowning.

"Oh, and Bobby?" Dean asked. "I'm sorry for interrupting your class. I can't, you know, do the angel thing anymore." He said, a little embarrassed.

Robbie smiled sadly. "I know. It's okay. I'll go grab Lee."

"Be careful." Cas muttered as Dean ended the call. Dean smiled and tucked the blankets all around the angel, making him a tiny little coccoon. He pushed the hair from his forehead and kissed the damp skin, and as Cas shut his eyes Dean went from the room, following the sound of flapping wings.

"Phew." Leo wiped his forehead, Robbie and Leo were panting hard. Both their wings, in shades of black and gold, were folded against their backs, the feathers slightly ruffled as they tried to smooth them down.

"Flying's different here." Leo mumbled, smoothing down a tweaked inky black feather with a little frown. "..It's weird."

"I know. I think we have to re-learn or something." Robbie remarked, hastily smoothing down his iridescent golden feathers. "Alright, dad. Let's tear these demons apart."

* * *

The three of the dropped into place in front of the house, blades dropping immediately into their hands as Dean frowned a little and fumbled with the side of his belt to pull the demon knife from its sheath.

"How many do you think there are?" Leo asked as he squinted at the house, balancing the silver blade in his palm as it bobbed slightly up and down.

"No idea." Dean answered, his eyes shifting from his knife to the house. "But we can get through 'em, right?"

"Duh." Leo smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners, he finally relaxed a little and loosened the tight grip on his weapon. Dean had to reach up a little as he tipped his head closer and gave him a kiss on the temple. "Goddamn, when did you get so tall?"

"You're just jealous," Leo laughed, and Robbie rolled his eyes.

"At least we're not beanpoles." He shot back.

The three of them snuck through the side yard gate, and peeked into the windows. The first couple windows were unoccupied rooms, but they finally got a glimpse of what was going on inside. They saw the back of a chair and a pair of hands tied together at the wrists, and the back of a head of long blonde hair.

Demons milled about, guarding the girl, pacing aimlessly.

The three ducked down underneath the windowsill, and Dean was met with two pairs of green and blue eyes, curious and awaiting instruction.

Dean signaled quickly, and the two boys nodded, their lips set in identical stubborn frowns. Dean would lead the ambush, taking out the two by the door and then distracting the others as Robbie would help with the rest of the demons and Leo would untie Claire.

With years of training as Hunters, the three managed to sneak up to the house silently and stood poised and ready to burst into the house.

Everything happened so quickly that it was hard to keep track. Dean was able to run through the two demons guarding the door clean enough, but everything went to hell after that. Next thing Robbie knew, he was knocked hard on his ass with blood streaming from his nose and a heavy, lifeless body pressed on top of him. Robbie rolled it away with disgust, and struggled to get up when he saw Dean pinned underneath a toppled bookshelf, struggling to free himself.

Robbie's head swam; maybe he'd gotten a concussion. But when he saw the next thing, he froze in his tracks anyway.

"Oh, isn't this _interesting_." The demon possessing Claire's mom had a bloody knife in her hand, deep red blood forming a grotesque blot on her abdomen, the blood spreading quickly as it wicked into the fabric. The vessel must have died already, or was quickly going to be. Robbie's heart sank in his chest. He knew what it felt like to lose a parent.

The demon opened her hand, just barely digging in to the pale skin of her palm. Leo stood completely frozen in front of her. "He possesses the Thirst." The demon was jubilant.

She took her own hand, and curled all fingers around the blade, thick red streaming in a line to the floor.

Leo's hands curled together. One of his lower eyelids twitched as he took in a sharp breath. His face had gotten considerably paler.

"Wouldn't you like some? Please, go right ahead. I want you to take it." The demon taunted.

Claire whimpered. "Please.." She was whispering. "Please." She struggled with the hands tied behind her back, but to no avail.

Leo came forward, his deep blue eyes never leaving the small pool of blood on the floor.

Robbie straightened up from his crumpled position on the ground, spitting blood out of his mouth. His heart felt like it was trying to escape his chest as it hammered hard against his ribs. "No..." He wheezed, he couldn't manage to say much else.

Leo kept inching forward, slinking like a guilty dog, when he got to the woman with pure black eyes. His fingers trembling, he dipped two in the red blood pooling in her palm.

Claire squeezed her eyes shut, little whimpers escaping her throat, as the demon roughly shoved her to try and shut her up.

"Go on, taste it. And I'll always have more for you." Her voice was sickeningly sweet.

Leo brought the two fingers capped in red in front of his face, his hand trembling. His pupils were wide and dark, his lips parting and closing, a tongue flicking out and licking the chapped pink. His face was pale white.

Memories flashed through his mind like a nightmare. He remembered being strapped down, angels in coats with clipboards monitoring his every move, roughly grabbing his arm and twisting it to see all the training failures printed on his pale skin, that he had to somehow be stronger. He remembered the pinch of the needle into the crook of his elbow as he tried to squirm away, screaming, the blood burning like venom in his veins.

He remembered being a wreck the first time, and then craving for the days of the week when he'd get the blood treatments, because they were the only thing keeping him strong enough to survive the training. How much his throat burned in thirst when the supply had stopped, after he'd been rescued, and the ache in his chest because he could never talk about it.

Leo brought the blood closer to his lips, pure yearning on his face.

Then, there was a flickering skeleton as he stabbed his blade deep into the woman's stomach. Leo dropped to his knees, his breathing raspy and uneven.

Robbie clambered to his feet, rushing free Claire from the chair she was bound to, as her mother's body fell to the floor with a dull thud "Hey, hey. Hang in there." Claire's face was pale and she was breathing hard.

Right when Robbie got to her, she crumpled down into herself and he had to quickly steady her shoulders to keep her from falling forward. "Claire? Claire?" Robbie quickly hooked his arm underneath her knees and brought her up to his chest, her limp head lolling to his shoulder.

Leo pressed his hands to the floor, scuttling to sit up, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. His pupils were still wide and black, only a rim of blue around black holes.

"Hey." Leo said aimlessly, obviously a little out of it, his eyelids fluttering. "Demons 0, Leo 2."

Then, he fainted too.

"Aw, hell." Robbie frowned, holding the tiny blonde girl a little closer and tighter.

* * *

Claire felt a warm hand gently push back her bangs from her forehead again and again, and she groaned. Her head throbbed a little, but she knew she was in a soft bed.

Cas gently reached out and pushed the hair off her forehead again, his mouth set in a tiny frown. He wished he could have been there to help, but now the young girl had lost her mother too.

"Dad?" Claire said hoarsely, peeking open a light blue eye.

At first she was comforted by the sight of her father's face, his same old black hair and lips pulled into a slight frown. Then she remembered it all.

"Get away from me." She shrunk back into the bed. "You're not my dad. You're the one who killed him!"

Cas frowned and reached gently for her, but she jerked back.

"Don't touch me." She spat.

The angel sighed and his hand drooped instead to sit on the bedding. "It is true that James is in heaven. But I still share a bond with him. He told me that you were in danger, and that's how we saved you. He told me he wants you to be under our protection now. We're the only ones who can fully protect you from the supernatural."

Claire felt tears rush into her eyes. She didn't want to talk right now.

"You will be safe here. We will make sure to protect you, and I have two sons who are technically your half-brothers. They would never let anything happen to you." Cas explained solemnly. "And I won't either."

"I don't want anything to do with you! You were the one who took my father away from me! You took him and you killed him and I..." The blurriness disappeared from her vision as she blinked away the tears, leaving shiny vertical trails on her cheeks. "I'm always going to hate you for that. And now my mom's gone too..." She sniffed loudly, hugging her pillow, turning away from him. "Go away."

"Claire.." Cas started, reaching to touch her shoulder again. Her heart twinged at what she knew was her father's voice but not her father's words.

"Go." She choked out, not facing him again. There was a second of silence before she heard his soft footprints recede from the room. She cried for what seemed like hours, until her chest hurt so badly she didn't want to cry anymore.

A tiny grey tabby slipped into her door and padded across the room, jumping and sinking tiny claws into the blanket, back legs scrabbling as it tried to find footing.

"Aw," Claire finally smiled a little, cupping the cat's stomach and helping it on to the bed with her. "I didn't know they had a little kitty."

The cat mewed and she pet its cheek as it headbutted into her hand. She wiped her tears away and tried to let petting the cat make her feel better. She shut her eyes very tightly as she felt the soft fur, rattling out a shaky breath.

She squeaked in shock when she felt a pair of strong arms wrapping sweetly around her, a much taller torso than hers tucking her small body into his chest.

"You look like you need a hug." Came a rough voice, it wasn't low in pitch but very boyish.

Claire screamed as loud as her lungs would let her.

...

"I forgot!" Leo played with his hands in his lap. "I'm sorry! I just do it so often and-"

Dean paced and ran his hand down his face. "Look. We have to do everything we can to make your sister feel welcome-"

"I was giving her a hug!" Leo interjected in defense.

Dean pointed at him and lifted an eyebrow. "Welcome and _comfortable_. Leo, not many people have even heard of skinwalkers, much less seen one. You can't do it. At least for a little while. "

Leo crossed his arms. "I already said I was sorry." He mumbled.

Dean finally stopped pacing. He sighed. "Okay. Ground rules. No phoenix stuff. Robbie, no wolfing out, Leo, no skinwalking. Then it's gradual, okay? She's only human."

"She's our sister." Robbie burst. "I think she should be able to just..take us the way we are, right?"

"Robbie, she's scared. Just give her some time to adjust, okay?" Dean lifted an eyebrow. "I mean all that."

"Fine." The two of them said at the same time.

"Let us see her already, dammit." Robbie pursed his lips and looked to the side. He hated being treated like a little kid.

Dean gently knocked on the door to the bedroom Claire was now living in. "Claire? Can we come in?"

They heard her sniffle through the door and pipe up waterily "Who's that?"

"Dean. Dean and, uh, your brothers." Dean gently pushed open the door to see her curled at the edge of her bed, her eyes red and puffy. She dragged her hand across her eyes and looked up at them with light blue eyes.

"Hi." Leo said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head with a kind of sympathic grin on his face."Er...sorry I scared you before. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Leo. Well, Leoniel. But you can just call me Leo. Wow, you look a lot like me. I...uh...don't mean...well, obviously you're a girl so you're, like, prettier than me but I just meant like...like Cas. Cuz I guess you're my half sister and I'm really happy I got to meet you. I had a little sister who looked a little like you but we had to leave her behind and I miss her pretty much every day. So it's nice to meet you even though you're my half sister. I'll just stop talking now." Leo shuffled his feet in embarrasment.

"It's..uh..I guess it's okay." Claire sniffled and rubbed her nose. "It's nice to meet you guys too. I guess you're not technically family, but your still blood. I didn't think I had anyone left."

"I will hunt down the son of a bitch who did this to you and your mom and I will kill him with my own damn hands if it comes to that." Robbie growled.

Claire smiled just a little, but it vanished so quickly that Robbie wondered if he'd imagined it. She stared at her hands. "What's...your name?" She asked shyly.

"Robbie." He said almost with an air of gruffness. "But I guess I'll go by anything. Rob, Bobby, but...you can call me RJ. I mean, if you want."

She fiddled with her hands in her lap a little. Robbie suddenly noticed that Dean had left the room. "So are you like...a shapeshifter too?" She asked uncertainly.

Robbie felt like correcting her, but didn't want to seem like an ass. He figured she'd learn sooner or later; shapeshifting was into other humans, skinwalking into other animals. "No." He answered. "It's...it's complicated."

"Did you get bit or something?" Claire asked, hugging her pillow tightly to her chest. "I mean..Leo, you've got some nasty scars on those arms."

Leo shook his head. "Born with it. Both of us were. It's a long story." He finally ventured and sat on the edge of her bed next to her. He was much taller than her even sitting down. He hesitantly took her hand, and she let him, sniffing and looking into his eyes, her own pink and watery.

"You don't have to stay in this room all by yourself." Leo said in the sweetest voice he could muster. "I have nightmares still. They suck total ass when you're alone. I don't take up much space when I'm in a different skin, I could just sleep on Robbie's bed. Would you like us to...to watch over you tonight?"

Claire thought it did sound pretty damn nice. But still, she was iffy when she did just meet these two. She frowned and looked down at the bed under her. "I'll be okay here." She mumbled. "G'night, Leo and RJ."

"Um, yeah." Robbie said in a flustered voice. "Same."

"Sweet dreams." Leo frowned. The boys stumbled awkwardly out of the room.

Claire tried to will herself to no have a nightmare, but it didn't seem to work. She kept seeing her mother with deep black eyes, her body flickering and falling, dark blood shining on her shirt and slipping in a dark pool around her.

She flew to the twin's bedroom, going much faster as she felt like the shadows were chasing her. The door was left open for her, and even one of the beds was neatly made and a snowy-grey lynx and dark-haired boy snored away happily on the other bed. Claire silently slipped under the covers, she felt so much safer here with someone else in the room. She fell into a shallow sleep, not quite getting to her dream stage. She vaguely remembered shivering and then being warm again as someone added another blanket on top of the bedding.

When she woke up that morning, the bed across from hers was already empty, just a mass of rumpled sheets with some spilling down to the floor. She swung her legs off the edge of the bed, yawning and quietly slipping through the door with a blanket around her shoulders. The bunker sure got chilly in the mornings with these drafty ceilings.

"Mornin'." She heard a gruff voice from her right. She turned to look, and she saw Dean. Claire felt embarrassed; she knew she looked awful with puffy eyes and messy hair. "My boys aren't giving you any trouble, are they?"

Claire smiled just a little and shook her head. " 'Course not."

Dean cleared his throat. "Good. I already talked with them about their..um..not so natural abilities and how they'll keep it all to themselves. Until you get acclimated."

Claire smiled just a little. "It's okay, really. I'm not so scared of them anymore."

Dean nodded. "Good. Well, I made some breakfast for you, if you're hungry." Claire could tell he was a kid person. It made her feel just a little better.

She rubbed her eyes a little and made her way down the hall, finally hearing clinks on plates and low chatter. Robbie was eating his toast and talking happily to Cas, who was gently petting an otter who was curled up in his arms. She heard footsteps storming behind her and finally pass her as Dean jabbed a finger at Cas and the animal.

"Leoniel Samuel Winchester, I can not _believe_ you-" He fumed.

"Dad you're being so unfair!" Leo suddenly was in his human form once again, his arms crossed over his chest as he pouted, standing in front of Cas. "It's like you're banning me from breathing or something!"

"I wouldn't say it's _that_ extreme." Dean locked his jaw. "Come _on_, son. You know better than this."

"Dad, you are being kind of unfair." Robbie spoke up. "I mean..it's his nature."

Dean ran a hand down his face. "Okay. Fine. Dammit.." He sighed. "Please just limit the 'walking, okay? And get ready for school."

Both of the boys groaned deeply.

"Oh, suck it up. You're only there for a few more days, until we kill all the vamps." Dean laughed a little. "Claire? You'll drive in with me. These two will catch the bus, I guess they supposedly have a reputation and I don't want you getting hurt by that."

"I'd be fine with a reputation." Claire cocked her head to the side. "Especially if I'm really going to match it soon. You're teaching me how to defend myself and fight soon, aren't you? I'd like to drive in with them."

Dean chuckled a little. She was just the kind of girl he could relate to. "Suit yourself." He jabbed at a pile of eggs, an amused look on his face.

...

"Want us to come with you to the registrar?" Robbie asked, hooking his arm over the leather seat into the back and cocking a dark eyebrow.

Claire shook her head. "I'll be fine on my own." She replied, her eyes downcast. She sure was going to miss her old friends and her mom and her house. Halfway through sophomore year, she had to start over.

"You okay?" Leo piped up innocently.

Claire nodded, trying hard to stop that stinging she got in between her nostrils, meaning tears were on the way.

They climbed out of the car and both of the boys gave her a tight hug.

"See you after school. And tell us if you catch wind of anything vamp-y." Robbie called out to her.

Claire waved at them silently, using her arm that had the dark black band wrapped around her forearm for her mother, and shrugged the backpack onto her shoulder.

The two of them watched her go, and the keys jingled in Robbie's hand as he locked the Impala. "I can't believe you made her scream, skinwalking like that." Robbie chuckled. "You idiot."

"Shut up! I was trying to make her feel better okay?" Leo blushed and shrugged his backpack over his shoulder, and Robbie did the same, walking around the hood to join his tall and slightly disheveled blonde brother.

"I think that girl Alex is part of the vamp posse." Leo stared as they began to amble up to the school side-by-side. "I have reason to suspect she's the one in charge. Her and that junior boy, Luke. I'm like, ninety-five percent sure it's them. They ditch all the time, and most of the vics have been within walking distance of the school so this must-"

"Lee." Robbie mumbled, rubbing his nose a little and looking down at the cracked, sun-bleached asphalt.

"-be the place where they meet and then they go on hunts together-" Leo ticked numbers off his hand, oblivious to what his brother had said.

"Leo, dammit, I'm trying to say something here." Robbie shoved his hands in his pockets and cleared his throat. "I'm proud of you." He mumbled, coughing into his fist.

"You- huh?" Leo stopped in his tracks, cocking his head to the side. "RJ? What are you talking about?"

"You didn't take her bait. You know, the...blood." Robbie cleared his throat again. "At least I don't have to beat the shit out of you, right?" He lightly punched Leo's shoulder.

Leo punched him back even harder, and Robbie rubbed his shoulder, flipping him off. "Wow. I try to say something nice.." Robbie chuckled. Leo didn't hesitate to grip him in a headlock and rough his shoulders up a bit.

"Today the day we do some beheading?" Leo asked.

"Well, it's about time we did." Robbie replied. "Why not? Not like our lives aren't weird enough already."


	15. Foul Play

It hit Claire as she tried to understand the jumble of numbers and letters and graphs in Algebra 2, as her teacher drolled on and on and there was the squeak of markers on a whiteboard. She didn't know anyone in this school, of course, so she just wanted to be invisible for now, letting her mind wander.

If Leo and Robbie were her half-brothers because of Cas, how in the hell where they older than her?

Maybe Castiel had possessed her father before she was born only to leave him alone for a few more years. But that didn't explain why Dean had called them "my boys" this morning.

It was clear the hunter and the angel were in a relationship, the way the hunter held his shoulders to make sure he was okay to walk out to the dining table and make him snug and cozy with the blanket over his shoulders, gently combing his fingers through his dark hair and looking at him the way Claire wished a guy would look at her.

The two of the boys also looked like the two of them, she thought as she tapped the eraser nub of her pencil to her lips. She was drawn from her thoughts as the bell rang for lunch.

She tried to look around for the two boys during lunch, but didn't find them anywhere. She figured they might be out taking care of vampy stuff, and then immediately pondered just how strange her life was now. She just ate lunch by herself in the bathroom, she couldn't wait for this stupid school day to be over.

The two boys seemed giddy when she climbed back into the car with them after a long day full of strange and unfriendly faces.

She wrinkled her nose as she pulled the heavy door shut; both of them smelled strongly of bleach and cleaner, like they'd spent the rest of the day scrubbing blood from their clothes.

"Haha! Yes!" Robbie exclaimed as he slammed the trunk closed, after having thrown the axes back into the arsenal, he scooted behind the driver's seat.

He smirked at Leo as the car rumbled to life. "No more school for us, baby!" He revved the engine playfully.

"We still have to hunt down the source, who was recruiting them in the first place. Don't get your hopes up." Leo laughed as he climbed in and creaked the door shut too.

"You all buckled in?" Robbie hooked his arm around the back of the leather bench seat and asked Claire as the car began gliding out of the lot.

"I'm not five, Rob." Claire snorted, turning to look out the window.

"Well, sorry. I'm just not used to having such a breakable human in the family. Not to mention without any formal training with weaponry, defense..."

"Okay, Okay. I get it." Claire smiled just a little and looked out the window, crossing her arms. She knew she should be frightened or at least wary of these two, but she found she wasn't."Hey. I have a question."

"Ask away." Robbie waved his hand flippantly, once again returning his eyes to the road.

"My dad was only possessed five years ago, so I don't get how you're both nineteen. Unless maybe you age faster than other kids. Or maybe you're from the future. Or-" Claire began rattling out, only to be interrupted.

Robbie chuckled. "You've been thinking about this all day, haven't you?"

Claire scoffed. "Well, not _all_ day."

"We are from the future." Robbie waggled his fingers in a parody of a "mysterious" gesture.

Claire stifled her gasp in her throat. This was just getting weirder and weirder.

"Are you scared of us now?" Robbie asked, smirking at her.

"Well, we are technically not from _this_ future, but from another dimension's future." Leo butted in, shooting Robbie a look. "And we're not _scary, _RJ_." _

"Okay, whoa, this is getting too weird. Laymen's terms, please?" Claire was suddenly even more intrigued than them just being from the future.

"Okay, so, say each universe has a letter and a number. So just with the 26 letters and 10 numbers, there are hundreds of options. But in real life, each universe's name could potentially be a strand of numbers as long as pi. Maybe it varies by just one number in the 1,047 place, like one person was never born. Or it could be parallel, for example, one universe could always be just one less than pi; 2.0304815. Or maybe it's so abstract and deviating from what we'd condsider normal that it's a stream of Japanese katakana. We just don't know how many universes are really out there-" Leo began, and Robbie snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, god. Here we go again." Robbie laughed.

"Hey, shut up! I was the one who got our asses here, thank you very much!" Leo crossed his arms.

Claire decided not to comment on it again as she stared at the houses blurring by. This whole thing was making her head swim; she'd gone from her normal life of high school and living a droll old boring life with just her mother, herself and her cat, and now this; living with two brothers she never knew she had, an angel prosessing her dad and his apparent boyfriend and his brother. Not to mention her brothers could do things like change into animals, fly, and who knows what else. Dean had definitely said _abilities, _right?

"And if we have the same dad...do you just call Dean your dad? Because him and Cas are...together, right?" Claire asked again. There still was so little she knew about this new family she'd been thrust into.

"They're actually both our parents." Leo answered. "Because Cas is an angel, we were born in angel reproduction, where gender doesn't matter exactly. I guess even we're technically genderless, just our bodies are guys...it's a really long story." Leo's mouth ticked up in the corner in a small smile. "Sorry about all this. It must be pretty weird for you."

"It's, uh, it's okay." Claire answered. "I'd actually love to read or learn about it."

"Oh, so you're one of _those_." Robbie joked, laughing as he spun the wheel with one hand on the steering wheel in a turn.

"Oh, shut the fuck up!" Leo punched his shoulder. "Some of us like to read and learn, not like you!"

Claire hugged her backpack to her chest and smiled, watching the green trees speed by. Maybe she was going to like it here.

She spilled out the schoolbooks on the research table of the bunker, and she felt a small tap on her shoulder. "Ah, ah! You're coming and training with us today, nerd." Robbie grinned. "C'mon. Let's head down to the shooting range."

Claire was just about ready to fall fast asleep after a long couple of hours learning how to use, shoot and aim a gun: at first, she hadn't even known how to turn the safety off, and her bullet hadn't even hit the human-shaped target. Finally, after a little practice, she was finally able to get a headshot, even though it hadn't struck the bull's eye quite yet.

She flopped down onto her bed (well, Leo's, but she figured after her nightmares the first night she'd rather not sleep alone for some time), when Cas softly knocked on the doorpost. Claire turned to see him, feeling once again a sharp pinch deep within her gut when she knew it wasn't really her dad.

"Didn't I tell you to leave me alone?" She said bitterly, hugging a pillow to her chest.

"Please," Cas said softly, his eyebrows tipping upward with sympathy. "I would like to bring you to visit with your father."

Claire gasped lightly, her fingers curling tighter around her pillow. "...Really?"

"Yes." He replied, cautiously coming forward. Claire went crossed-eyed as he pressed two fingers to her forehead, and woke up somewhere else.

She was first met with the very familiar and comforting smell of her old house, the very same brand of detergent and subtle warm smell of her furniture. She saw the face of the angel Cas, but she knew it was Jimmy because of the pure emotion on his face. Claire felt tears spring to her eyes as she saw her father's expression melt as he rushed forward to wrap his arms around her.

"Dad," Claire managed to choke out into his shoulder, squeezing as tight as she could. She felt her tears gush from her eyes.

"Oh, my baby." Jimmy sighed, rubbing her back comfortingly. "My little Claire-bear. Thank God you're okay."

"Is mom-" Claire asked, and Jimmy held her even closer.

"Your mother is here with me. She's still having a little bit of a hard time accepting that she's dead. You'll have to excuse her, honey." James finally pulled away and his expression hardened, looking a little more Cas-like. "Now, baby, you have to listen to me. You have to stay with the Winchesters and Castiel."

Claire frowned just a little and held onto her father's hands. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. I don't want to become a Hunter..." Her voice began to get watery, and she was forced to trail off.

"All I need is for you to learn how to defend yourself. Things I couldn't have even imagined in my wildest dreams are out there, sweetheart, and I want them to protect you and train you. At least until you're eighteen, I need you to stay under their protection." Jimmy explained, his eyes narrowed and serious. "I need you to live as long as you can, baby. I love you so much."

"I love you too, dad." Glittering tears streamed down her cheeks. "I'm a fast learner. I learned how to shoot a gun today- I know I can keep myself safe. I'll do it for you."

"Good." Jimmy hugged her again and kissed her forehead. "Stay safe, learn how to protect yourself, I love-"

Claire once again woke up in the twin's bedroom, her eyes streaming, Cas lowering his fingers from her forehead. Cas was stiff as she pulled him into a hug again, feeling the very same shoulders which made a different man. "Thank you for rescuing me." She said quietly, quickly pulling away. Cas managed to smile slightly.

"Goodnight, Claire." He said, once again leaving the room quietly. Claire tucked under her covers and wept softly, but the tears weren't so bitter tonight. _I got to see dad_, she thought to herself. _I'm doing the right thing by staying here. _

...

Around three hours later, when Claire was fast asleep, her eyes flicked open. The demon that had been planted inside her back at the house to spy on the family and the archangel's swords clawed itself out of hiding, making Claire's breaths come faster from her throat. It was hard work staying so deep within her body, lying undetected for so long.

Her moments were stiff and awkward at first as the demon assumed control of her sleeping body and had to re-learn quickly after lying dormant for so long, she bumped clumsily from the room.

Her fingers dragged as she drew each line and loop, her eyes glassy and staring off into space. Her face kept that blank expression as she collected the ingredients and lit a match, letting it fall into the jumble of spices and hairs and bones.

She stood up straight as a demon in a slick tuxedo appeared in the circle, hands tucked behind his back.

"Information, Asmodeus?" The demon asked, dark brown eyes narrowing at the teenage girl.

"Much more than we had expected, sir." Claire's voice was flat and monotone as the demon spoke through her. "This is quite a..peculiar situation."

The demon cocked an eyebrow, nodding impatiently for her to continue.

"They are nephilim, which we knew previously. But they are also..other creatures as well." Asmodeus continued.

The demon looked irritable. "Lucifer's vessel. What about him? No mind to the other one."

"A Blackwing angel. Quite a fitting match for our lord." Claire quickly listed off. "Demon blood had gone through his system- albiet a long time ago, but he still feels the thirst. Quite intelligent; very much like Samuel in these ways." Claire's lips frowned slightly. "All positives, of course. But he is of impure body-"

"Impure how?" The suited man in the circle growled.

"A skinwalker, sir." Claire's demon explained almost nervously. "Details are still vague, he could possibly have..multiple impurities."

"And his protective situation?"

"The bunker offers a much too high level of safety. Even if we were to get him out of it, we still have his family to get through to get to him; Samuel, Dean, Castiel, and the vessel's brother."

"Ah, Michael's sword."The man in the suit and tie shook his head and locked his jaw. "He will pose as quite possibly the largest threat. The swords for these great archangels usually have the strongest of brotherly bonds."

"Do you have a destination for me yet?" Claire's demon asked. "I would easily be able to escape during the nighttime. No doubt they will search for me and find me."

"Not yet. You must regress again, and let Claire do all of the work for you. She is not aware of your presence within her, correct?" The man was looking more and more disappointed. Claire's hands grew a little more clammy as the demon controlling her got more nervous.

"No, sir." She managed to say. "She does not suspect anything. Her bonding with this new family is progressing quite normally."

"Good." The demon nodded. "Obviously, tests for holy water will not work on you, being a desendent of Yellow-Eyes. But I must say, for such a prestigious parentage...I am less than impressed, Asmodeus."

The demon suddenly felt determination flare up deep within that twisted, black soul. It would complete its duty for Lucifer, to get him his true vessel. It _would_. The emotion spiked something deep within the demon Asmodeus, and Claire's small hands curled into angry fists. With a flicking sound like the flap of a beetle's wing, her bright blue eyes covered over with a film of sickly pus-yellow.

"I will send for you when it is time. When the family will be lured out, and specifically, the boy." The demon concluded.

"Very well." Asmodeus replied, nodding formally, and the suited man vanished. She walked back into her bed, and stared blankly ahead as the demon then burrowed itself so deep within her body to avoid detection that she cried out loudly, collapsing on the bed and clawing at her stomach, breathing raggedly.

"Hey! Hey! Claire? Claire, wake up! What's wrong?"

She felt her shoulder being rolled, gently at first, and then rougher. _"Claire!" _

Her eyes quickly flew open and she blinked into the dark face above hers, she could barely make out who it was until she heard his rough voice again, quite different than Robbie's smooth voice. Claire felt like she was sick all of the sudden, her nightmare flashing before her eyes. Her mother's death once again, her being controlled like a puppet with black eyes as a bloodstain spread quickly along her stomach. Her own stomach ached for some strange reason, but it was quickly fading.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked, biting his lip and keeping his hand on her small shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "I heard you yell."

Claire rubbed her eyes and sat up. "'m okay." She mumbled. "It was just a nightmare. My mom again."

"Do you...want to talk about it?" Leo asked uncertainly, his heart still fluttering a little bit faster. He sure had jumped into the role of older brother quickly with Mary, and it was no different here with Claire.

"You were there, weren't you?" Claire said bitterly, hugging her knees to her chest. "There's nothing really to say, I guess."

"Sometimes just talking about it helps." Leo mumbled under his breath, sitting on the edge of Robbie's bed that was opposite from the bed Claire was using, just a few feet away. "Believe it or not, I know what it's like to lose a parent too."

"How?" Claire asked quietly, finally letting go of her knees and letting her legs dangle down from the edge of the bed, opposite from Leo.

"The universe we came from, that we were telling you about. We lost both our parents, Dean first, then Cas. We were orphans." Leo pursed his lips and looked off to the side. "I like it here, I really do. But there are things I wish...I wish I could have done before I left. Like I said, I had a little sister we had to leave behind. And...and another girl. I don't know if she exists here or not. I really, really loved her. She saved my life over and over, every day. And I never even got to say goodbye, I said I was going to find her and marry her and now, I don't know if I can..." He looked away fully this time, just his profile showing the gently slope of his nose in the soft light of the moon. "So if you want to talk about something...I'd probably understand. Just, you know, if you want to."

"Thanks." Claire smiled sadly and slipped herself underneath the covers of her bed. "Maybe later, I guess. I just...I just miss her."

"G'night." Leo hushed back over to her before she saw a dark animal shape gingerly pick its way over a lump of covers, Robbie's body underneath the blankets.

"Night." She whispered back, dabbing at her overworked tear ducts and trying to will herself to maybe not cry again tonight.

And the closer the siblings got, the closer the demons and Lucifer got to fulfilling their plans.


	16. Eight Fingers

Hi everybody! Okay, so this chapter is basically pure fluff because the next few are defintely going to get pretty heavy. So I thought I'd give this guys a little family time first :) Just as a little side note: I do plan on getting Leo back with his little girlfriend, eventually. I just really liked her. We'll just have to wait and see! Please drop me a review :D

* * *

"Robert..Leoniel? Are you still awake?" Cas gently pushed the door open, sending a slat of light diagonally across the floor.

Robbie groaned a little and rubbed his eyes. "Well, we are now. What's up?"

Cas came in and sat down on the floor between the beds, looking up at the two of them in succession with a face much too innocent for a man his age. "I need your help." He said, his hands plopping into his lap. "I want you to tell me about..the Other Me."

Leo yawned and ran his fingers through his hair. "Hmm? How come?"

Claire stirred a little on the bed next to the boys, nuzzling further into her pillow.

Cas lowered his head and picked at the carpet. "Well...uh...no reason _specifically_..."

Robbie smirked and eyed Leo. "Oh, uh huh. No reason. No reason to wake us up in the middle of the night."

Cas finally looked up and pressed his lips together. "I'm wondering because..I need to know how the other me acted with Dean."

Leo's expression softened and he smiled a little and Robbie whapped him hard on the shoulder for being such a softie. Claire stirred more, waking up groggily and rubbing her eyes. "What the hell..?"

"Well, first we gotta know what you _have_ done." Robbie said, smirking. Leo rolled his eyes, knowing full well what was coming next.

"Cas, put up two hands, just like this. We're playing ten fingers. Hey, Claire, you're playing too." Robbie chuckled, waggling his fingers. "Man, I haven't played this in forever. So, I'll start. So...never have I ever, kissed anyone."

Cas cocked his head to the side. "But Dean tells me you were..."

Robbie chuckled a little. "It's just the way the game goes, it's just how you start. So, Dad, if you kissed someone, you put a finger down."

Cas still looked confused as he curled a finger down. "I don't understand the point of this game, Robert."

Claire was blushing profusely as she didn't put a finger down.

"Ha, ha!" Robbie poked at her playfully.

"Oh, fuck your self." Claire huffed, folding the corner of the bedsheet over her again and snuggling into her pillow. "I'm going back to sleep."

"Lee, your turn." He elbowed him.

"This is stupid." Leo pouted.

"Fucking hell, I'm just trying to have some fun here." Robbie rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Never have I ever...slept with someone." He said quickly, coughing into his fist a little as his cheeks tinged pink.

"You _didn't_?!" Robbie smacked him on the shoulder. "But-but what about Fay?"

Leo looked extremely embarassed as his ears began to turn a little red too. "We..uh..Training was really tiring, RJ."

Robbie's jaw was basically hanging open. "_Tiring_?!"

"Yes. Tiring." Leo shot back moodily.

"Man, I just assumed..you know, you saying you were gonna marry her and all that."

Leo crossed his arms over his chest in embarrassment. "We couldn't even find the energy to talk sometimes, it was..._whatever_, man. I hate this game."

"I don't think love must come from the flesh either, Leoniel." Cas spoke up quietly. He still only had one finger down.

"Great." Robbie laughed. "It's not every day the kids give their dad a sex talk."

"That is not what I'm here for." Cas pressed his lips together, flustered. "I.."

"I know, Cas. Just ignore him." Leo finally smiled. "I'll tell you." He swung his legs back and forth dangling from the bed. "Dad liked it a lot when you surprised him. You know, like came up behind him and hugged him. Sometimes when he was cooking in the kitchen or whatever he was doing. I would just make sure he's not all jumpy now, I don't know. He used to be able to sense if it was you or not."

Cas nodded, his eyebrows drawing together, making a mental checklist.

"You don't have to change for him, dad." Leo explained after seeing his expression. "Anything you wind up doing, old you probably did too."

"I just wish there was an easier way to show him how much I love him." Cas wrung his hands in his lap. "I don't know how to do this."

"Just do whatever makes you happy." Robbie added in. "It took a long time for you to learn back home too."

Cas nodded. "This is so new." He finally stood up, his facial expression a little distraught.

Leo's expression softened. "We know."

Cas turned around and reached for the doorknob, his shoulders still hunched a little with worry.

"Wait." Robbie said quietly. "You're still an awesome dad. I just want you to know that." He smiled when he thought about when he'd brought him ice cream to eat with a fork. _For you. It's comfort food. _

He was trying so hard.

Cas's face pulled into a kind of tiny smile that shone mostly through his eyes, taking the doorknob and beginning to shut the door. "Goodnight." He said in a happy, gruff voice.

"'Night." The two chimed back, before the door closed with a little thunk.

"Dude, I can't believe you're still a virgin and you never told me." Robbie turned to Leo, trying hard to hold in his laughter. "I mean, I assumed.."

"Yeah, well, don't assume next time, dumbass!" Leo sputtered, crossing his arms tight. He plopped down on Claire's bed instead and curled into a spot tucked by her stomach and purred, shutting his eyes.

Robbie laughed silently to himself that he'd actually gotten his angel dad to play ten fingers, and also shut his eyes to go to sleep.

The next morning, Claire had to get up early for school and Leo and Robbie woke up with all the noise she was making and went with her to have some breakfast, if they were up anyway. Sam got to sleep in.

Dean was making omelettes with eggs and cheese and sizzling onions and spinach. "Oh-!" The word escaped Dean's lips as he felt two soft arms wrap around his torso, Cas hugging him gently from behind and squishing his cheek onto his back, closing his eyes.

Cas felt a warm sensation like honey melting through his chest; this _was_ a nice position. He was happy that the boys had helped him to discover it.

"Mornin', Cas." Dean chuckled, twisting his head around a little to kiss him on the head of messy black hair. "You know, the other Cas did the same thing."

Cas nuzzled his cheek into his back and just let out a small hum to acknowledge he'd even spoken. Why had he never tried this before?

Dean laughed, his squeezing ribs moving Cas a little as well, and folded the omlette in the pan. When Cas finally did open his eyes, he saw Robbie wink at him.

"Alright, boys, can you drive Claire down to the high school again today? Me and Cas and Sam have to do some research as to why heaven's so thrown out of whack lately." Dean asked, slipping the omelette off the pan and handing the waiting Claire the plate, and she hurried to the dining table to dig in.

"Sure. Research." Robbie jabbed, and Dean scoffed. "Oh, you're such a little shit."

They finally left, the keys jingling as the door thumped shut.

Cas waited to make sure the three of them were out of earshot before he spoke up again. "What are some other things the other me used to do?"

"I can show you." Dean smiled and surged forward, planting a swift kiss on his lips. "Unless you really do want to wait until we're married."

"That was only added into the Bible to try and prevent bastard children." Cas explained with a meek smile.

"So I'll take that as a no." Dean brushed his lips again his again, their noses pressing together. "Trust me, Cas. I've had twenty years to explore you."

Sam found four dirty dishes and an eggy frying pan all piled in the sink when he stumbled out for his morning coffee. He rolled his eyes and looked for Dean so he could berate him for being such a slob. _You've got three kids to watch over, Dean, you have to make sure you all clean up after yourselves_! But Dean was nowhere to be found. Where the hell could he be?

Cas was panting hard, layed out across Dean's stomach as their skin, sticky and hot with sweat, stuck together. Dean was softly playing with his dark damp hair, combing his fingers comfortingly through it again and again, the motion repeating like clockwork, making the angel relax even more. Cas tried to regain his breath as he took in a few deep inhales, keeping his eyes shut and just feeling Dean's body laid out under his stomach. He just let himself feel Dean's fingers gently comb through his hair again, the motion incredibly loving.

"I love you so much." Cas sighed on exhale. "I don't know exactly how to show that yet. This is all so new to me..." He paused and finally opened his eyes at looked up to Dean, his face uncertain. "Did I...do this all correctly?"

Dean laughed, that carefree, loud, happy laugh, and rolled Cas onto his back once again, planting a tender kiss on him. He guessed that was answer enough.

Later that night, the six of them piled on to the couch to watch "X-men." Sam said it was a very interesting perspective on human bias and the stems for discrimination. (Leo said it made him feel like he was cool mutant too. Robbie snorted very loudly at that one.)

Cas was leaning on Dean's shoulder, half-paying attention to the film, mostly just listening to both of their breathing in and out and how warm his arms felt wrapped around Dean, and how nice it felt to have arms around him too. He remembered he had something important to tell one of his sons.

"Robert, I believe I would only have eight fingers now." Cas said happily, humming a little and squishing a little further into Dean's embrace.

The beer Robbie was drinking sprayed all over all of them.


	17. Possession

"Dean."

The man came back out to the living room after Sam had called him to the other room to explain what he'd found. This movie night had been after the boys' big day of finally tracking down the alpha vampire, which they were able to do on their own without Dean or Sam's help, which Dean was ecstatic about. They'd suffered minor injuries; Leo got scratched across the cheek and Robbie got bit on the forearm, but both of those were quickly healed fully by Cas when they got home.

"Something's thrown off the balance of power. I think that's why Cas's energy fluxuated like that- another angel must be rising to power. A really strong, powerful angel. That's all I got." Sam had said, rubbing his eyes a little. "This could really be anything. Or anyone." Sam yawned. "I'm going to go hit the hay."

"Thanks for trying to help, Sam." Dean rubbed his temples. "I guess if it becomes a problem, we'll find out about it sooner or later. 'Night."

Dean walked into the living room and saw the twins completely passed out, Cas pinned in between the two of them. He looked up to Dean with bright eyes, a little overwhelmed.

"Dean," Cas repeated, licking his lips a little. "It seems that I'm unable to move."

Dean guffawed and came up to the three of them. "Well, they've had a long day, huh?"

Cas tried to adjust a little more, but Leo's head just rolled and fell to his shoulder, Cas's nose then sticking up just over his blond hairs.

"I am losing circulation in my right leg." Cas said quietly, his voice a little muffled by Leo's head of hair. The boy groaned a little and with a tiny smile nuzzled just a little closer to Cas's shoulder.

"Okay, time to get up. Come on," Dean laughed, shoving Leo's shoulder a little to free Cas. "C'mon, Lee. Time for bed."

His eyes opened groggily, he stared down Dean with a peeved blue squint, yawning into his fist.

Dean also shook Robbie's shoulders. "Come on. You're crushing your dad. Time to go to bed."

Robbie groaned and ran a hand down his face. "Mmm. I'm tired."

"That's why it's time to go to bed! Come on!" Dean laughed and pulled him roughly off Cas.

"Can you carry me?" Robbie joked. "I'm only, like, a hundred pounds heavier than when I was seven."

"Shuddup." Dean snorted. Still, he remembered carrying the limp boys in to their room from long car trips on both of his shoulders, feeling their relaxed breathing through his hands on their backs and their faces were soft squished to his shoulders. He missed his _little_ boys, and with the memory he smiled. "Get your heavy asses to bed."

He was met with a few groans of protest but the two eventually got up, and Dean immediately plopped down on the couch next to Cas. He smiled and closed his eyes, bringing his face forward so just their noses touched.

"So? How about a little lovin' tonight, hm?" His arms wrapped around him.

"Hm. We'll see." Cas replied, and Dean gave him a little kiss. "Maybe when I regain the feeling in my leg."

Dean pushed him gently onto his back, Cas sinking into the old, comfy couch as lips pressed tenderly to his, a hum forming in the back of his throat. He couldn't remember why he'd been so scared before; he thought he'd mess things up, that he wouldn't know what to do. But he realized Dean already loved him for who he was, he didn't have to change. He sighed and let his fingers curl over the nape of Dean's neck.

_This must be what it feels like to be Home,_ he found himself thinking. Dean kissed his neck softly, and the angel felt like was melting into the soft cushions under his back. He wanted this to go on for hours.

"_Dad!_" He heard a shriek from one of the back rooms, interrupting them. Cas felt the man's body tense up immediately, Dean's head whipping away from his neck as he looked down the hallway. Cas heard the hammering of footsteps as one of the boys sprinted down the hall.

"It's Claire. She's missing, and there was a spilled bowl of blood in the bathroom...someone must have made a phone call, there's blood on the walls and I can't find our sister anywhere-" It was Robbie who was firing off the facts, and Dean immediately clambered off the bed and went up to his son, gripping him by the shoulders.

"Show me." He said in a gruff voice, quickly following him as he went back down the hall. Cas also got up off the couch, still a little bit in a daze as he followed the two who darted into the bathroom.

There was a large copper bowl filled with dark blood, and a discarded syringe. Blood was dripping down the porcelain sides of the sink, one part of the bowl tinged with red as it seemed it had spilled and then quickly been tipped back into place. A trail of blood was on the wall, sometimes just smeary lines but it sometimes formed the clear print from a small hand.

"She was possessed." Leo whispered, observing the scene. "She used her own blood for the call. Then, she must have overcome the demon and tried to empty the bowl." His finger indicated to the trial on the wall, his other finger stuck in his mouth as he chewed on the nail. "She must have been fighting the demon as it pulled her outside."

"Boys, get your coats." Dean said gruffly, going and taking Cas's hand as the two sprinted ahead of them.

_"She is beginning to resist me." Asmodeus spoke into the bowl of churning garnet, pressing a cloth hard to the crook of Claire's elbow to stop the bleeding from where he'd taken the blood. "She is of strong soul...she is capable of being the vessel of an angel, after all. We must act soon." _

_The voice from the bowl was bitter and distant. "I expected more from you. A demon of your status...and your lineage, of course...should be able to handle a sixteen year old girl." _

_"I am not very old myself, sir." The demon bit back, gritting Claire's teeth and tipping her head back as the soul made a particularly painful and harsh put to try and eject him. "The true vessel will follow his sister now. We cannot lose any more time." _

_"Very well. Go to the nearest crossroads. Ask for the demon who goes by the name of-" _

_"Shit!" Asmodeus called out as Claire was able to resist, taking the bowl by the lip and roughly tipping it downward, so much of the red cascaded from the bowl. The demon struggled to contain her, quickly jutting the hands out to rebalance the bowl. "Hello? Hello, are you still there?"_

_The connection was lost. The demon swore under his breath and stuggled to stand up, just trying to make it to the closest crossroad. Claire's hands dragged as she tried to grip onto anything to hold herself back, resisting as she was able to lean slightly backward, her legs stumbling onward. _

The next things she remembered, she was passed out on the cold ground, feeling a heavy weight on her chest and an intense feeling of nausea. She looked into the yellowish eyes of a young dark-haired boy, standing over her with a slight frown on his face.

_You. _She thought, wheezing as her hand pressed hard onto her aching chest and stomach. She knew it was him, she understood now. In the end, she'd heard his thoughts, felt him controlling her body. It had been too late, he'd already taken all the information about her brothers and sent it on. She felt sick to her stomach, and then felt her anger flare up brightly. When she raised her eyes, she was staring down the dark, round hole of the barrel of a gun.

She coughed, a billow of black smoke exploding from her lungs. "Please," She coughed, feeling vulnerable crumpled there on the floor as the demon stood over her, his pussy yellow eyes glinting as he held the gun outstretched, aimed between her eyes. "Please don't." She rasped, all her anger immediately replaced with fear. "Please."

The demon hesitated.

"You don't have to kill me." Her voice was quivering. "You got all the information. Please." _I don't want to die._

She was met with blackness again as the butt of the gun rammed hard against her skull.

...

A rotting, pudgy hand was curled around the base of a wine glass, swirling the translucent red around the edges of the glass. Leo groaned as he came back to consciousness, he rattled his wrists to find them bound in thick iron cuffs, and there was a piercing pain in his wings.

"Finally." The voice that spoke up was raspy and sick-sounding. His dark brown eyes were dry as they slid to bear into Leo's, swirling the wine around a little more. "I thought you'd be out forever," He huffed, almost child-like.

"Well, let's keep this short and sweet. My name is Lucifer." The man looked around mid-fifties, greying temples, a balding, smooth spot on the very top of his head. He was wearing an ill-fitting tweed coat, with small bloodstains on the cuffs and on one of the shoulders.

He rolled his eyes and waved his hand, indicating for Leo to speak. " '_Oh, hello. Nice to meet you, Lucifer_.' People these days have gotten so rude."

Leo's head swam and black was spotting his vision, but he refused to speak. He felt panic in his chest like a fluttering bird ramming against a window. _I have to get out of here. I have to get out of here. _

"This is going to happen one of two ways." The dilapidating older man then explained, he'd gone through several vessels since his demon followers had supplied him first with the teenage girl.

Leo's face had a stubborn expression on, his jaw locked, his deep blue eyes half-lidded as he looked at the man with strong defiance. He tried to not let the pain show on his face, although the gigantic meat hooks plunged through the tops of his raven black wings pulsed with pain, he felt his blood trickling through his feathers as pain stabbed deep through his wings.

"We could take the easy road. You say yes to me," The aging man leaned forward, interlacing fat, wrinkly fingers, all Leo could stare at was the ugly, decaying patch of skin that infected the entire left side of the man's face. "And I will not touch your family."

Leo said nothing, just his eyes trailing the man as he leaned back once again. Leo's jaw remained firmly locked. _My family will find me in time. I don't have to do this. _

"Or, of course, the hard way." The elder man said almost boredly, glassy eyes flashing. "I will kill all of them. Your human father...angel parent..half-sister, uncle..." Leo's heart began to hammer hard in his chest. He didn't want to imagine it. He didn't want to consider that.

"Even if you find a way to escape me...there will be No. One. to return to." Lucifer coughed into his fist, also riddled with welts. He needed out of this rotting body, now.

Leo still said nothing.

"Cat got your tongue, has it?" The older man rasped. "I know how to make you talk-"

Leo felt the chains connecting to the hooks in his wings pull tighter, ripping further into his skin, warm blood slipping down his feathers. It didn't stop pulling, and some of the hollow bird-bones began to snap. Leo bit down hard on his tongue, but a strangled kind of yelp fought its way up his throat anyway.

"Answer me. Do you want me to kill your family?" Lucifer mocked being sweet. "I'm giving you an _option_ here, Freckles. No one has to get hurt. What's going on here...it's higher than you are. Your family doesn't need to hurt," His breath smelled like wine, and his hand snuck behind the nape of his neck, and Leo felt himself bristle at the sickly, clammy fingers. He felt his cheeks pinch upward in a sneer and his freckled nose wrinkle in disgust.

"Say yes to me. Or I will kill your father Dean. We already have your brother for Michael to wear as a meatsuit. He has become...ob-so-lete." The man's lips spat each syllable and his hands were curling together again.

A demon dragged Dean, kicking and fighting, into the room. Leo's face finally sparked with emotion, his eyes flying open and his lips parting just slightly in a supressed gasp, his eyebrows drawing together in concern. "D-" He started, only to swallow his words. He felt a familliar prickle in his nose and in his tear ducts. _I will **not** cry. _

Leo knew that look in Dean's eyes. _Whatever you do, don't say yes. I don't matter. _

Leo turned to the decaying man before him, his welted hands knitted together, a sneer on his face, blood on that too-tight tweed coat.

"You will not hurt my family." Leo's voice rang clear and unwavering, surprsing even himself.

"There will be no need to." The devil said greedily, a smirk tugging up the corner's of the elder man's chapped lips.

"Including my brother." Leo's hands were shaking within the cuffs, though his rough voice remained steady.

"Of course, not Bobby Junior, no." Lucifer waved the comment away as if it were embarrassingly obvious. "Now, dear Leoniel, with your family protected..."

Leo licked his lips. He swallowed. He wished he didn't have to do this.

"Yes," His voice was hushed and broken. He hung his head, the tears finally springing to his eyes.

_You've cracked like the common eggshell. _

_You're weak. _

Dean was pulled quickly from the room, fighting with everything he had.

White exploded.

* * *

Leo's dark blue eyes almost seemed bored as he held a hand up to his freckled nose, examining it as he rotated his hand, looking at it from all angles. He sat on nothing less than a throne, the room his demons had set up for him to meet with other demons in the mansion they'd stolen away from a millionaire. He draped the borrowed body lazily in the chair, examining his hand a little closer as another person watched on, their posture stiff as a board.

"Hm." Lucifer remarked. "Now, where is that 'on' switch?"

He brought up two fingers, pressed together, and with a loud _floosh_ the two fingertips were dancing with flames.

"Interesting." He remarked cooly, getting a closer look at the flames. "Yes. Very interesting."

He put the fire out and leaned back boredly into his throne, _hrrmph_ing and staring down the demon who was basically trembling in front of him.

Leo rolled his eyes and cupped his face in his palm, looking extremely annoyed. "Now, just what do you want?" He asked the demon irritably.

"I..I must know if the new vessel is suitable, my lord." The demon hesitated.

"Of course it's suitable. It's a true vessel, isn't it?" He snapped, drumming Leo's fingers along the armrest of the chair. "I am not happy that you allowed Michael's vessel to live."

The demon shifted his eyes and then his feet nervously, the very same one that had seemed so daunting the first night that Claire's demon had spoken with. "..Which one, sir?"

"This one's _brother_?! The other one with the abilities?! Does getting a _leg up_ against Michael mean nothing to you?" Leo flopped down even further into the chair, his lanky legs dangling over the edge of the armrest boredly.

"You have permission to leave now." He brought his hand up, stared at it, and snapped. A round flame jumped from his thumb; he slid his fingers together, closing them off, and it disappeared. Snap, slide. On, off. Leo's blue eyes, usually bright and wide and excited, were half-lidded, dull and bored.

"My lord, if you would like us to formulate a plan to eliminate the other nephilim sword we would be eager to oblige-"

"Too much talking." Lucifer rolled his eyes and slid his borrowed legs back into a forward position, dark blue eyes glittering malevolently as he gripped the armrests tight, Leo's toned arms bent at right angles. _Now, let's see what this body can really do. _He concentrated, and a orange flame burst to ignite on the demon's clothes. Leo's eyes narrowed, and the flames spread faster- the man was a running torch.

There was a demonic scream, and the black smoke within the body made an exit, bursting through a window and curling away like an injured animal. There was only a pile of blackened skin and pointy bones left in a smouldering heap in the middle of the floor.

Lucifer stood up and began walking up to it, sauntering with his hands tucked primly together behind his back, completely different from the bumbling, gawky walk Leo had before.

His dark blue eyes flashed as he stared at the twisted black pile of bones, a very uncharacteristic smirk on his face.

"This vessel is suitable, of course." He said aloud. "I think I'm going to like it in here."

And with a sickening crunch, his footsteps snapped the burnt bones as he walked directly over them. Lucifer had to fight back Leo's particularly strong urge to vomit as he finally finished walking on the body.

"Asmodeus." Lucifer called out, bumping at his chest slightly with his fist at the burning bile that never rose. "Prepare my garments immediately."

"Yes, sir. Right away, my lord." A boy nodded curtly and scrambled down the marble hallway.

Leo's face stretched into a smirk, thinking about what was about to come.

He quite liked this new body, and he imagined what it would look like in his beautiful tailored white tuxedo, a red rose tucked into the front pocket. Dean's face as he said those dreaded words, _you will always end up...here. _

He snapped again. On, off. Snap, slide.

Leo coiled up and and shoved against him deep inside, pushing hard, clawing, and fighting him with every ounce of willpower he had.

Lucifer's uninterested eyes eyes slid over to his hand, which was trembling just slightly as an oval of flame floated above his thumb like it was a lighter.

Leo had a strong spirit; much stronger than the devil wanted to believe. He slid his fingers together and the flame went out, and he tucked his slightly trembling hands neatly behind his back.

He would not let another vessel rebel against him, control him, no. Not like with Sam which had led to the Pit, never again.

"Oh, sweet Leoniel." Lucifer spoke up. "You can fight, but I will always win."


End file.
